I offered her paid leave for as long as she needed, private counseling with someone of her own choosing, her own independent lawyer answerable to her and not to me, all of it with no strings attached, and I made very sure she understood that none of it was conditional on her ever setting foot in my house again.

She owed me nothing.

If she never wanted to see the house again, that was her right, and she would still be cared for.

I was careful, in offering all of it, to make sure none of it came wrapped in obligation, because I had seen what obligation dressed as generosity could do; it was, after all, exactly the trap Vanessa had used, kindness with a hook in it.

Real support, I had come to understand, is support the other person is free to walk away from.