Chapter 23 - NORA’S LAST YEARS
Nora aged in prison.
No dramatic escape.
No hidden fortune.
She developed arthritis.
Then heart disease.
Applied for medical relief.
Denied initially.
Later moved to a secure medical facility under ordinary rules.
Lily received notices because victim-notification law required them.
No surprise.
No secret.
At thirty, she agreed to one mediated video meeting.
I did not attend.
Afterward she told me.
First question:
“Why did you make me dress like a maid?”
Nora cried.
Lily waited.
“Because I wanted you to believe Blackwoods were above you.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent my life serving them.”
“But I was a Blackwood.”
“That was the point.”
Lily stared.
“You wanted me to hate Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love me?”
Nora hesitated.
“I felt responsible for you.”
“That isn’t love.”
“No.”
Then the question about Amelia.
“Did you mean to kill her?”
Nora gave the same answer she gave in appeals.
“I meant to make her weak enough to stop fighting me.”
Lily went still.
The legal distinction did not help morally.
“You put something in her tea.”
“Yes.”
“You knew it could hurt her.”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t care what word you use.”
The meeting ended.
No second one.
Nora died two years later.
May you like
Lily did not attend any memorial.
There was none.
