Chapter 8 - Visiting West Virginia
In October, nearly a year after the Thanksgiving that changed everything, I drove down to the federal correctional institution in Alderson, West Virginia.
I hadn't spoken to Rebecca since the day she was arrested at the airport. She had initially refused all visits from Mom and Dad, bitter and wallowing in self-pity. But two weeks prior, I had received a letter written in her handwriting.
It wasn't a demand or a threat. It was three sentences asking if I would be willing to come down for a visiting hour.
The prison visiting room was bright, sanitized, and lined with wooden tables. When Rebecca walked through the secure door wearing a khaki uniform, I barely recognized her.
Her long, styled hair had been cut into a practical shoulder-length bob. She wore no makeup, and the haughty, superior posture she had carried her entire life was entirely gone.
She sat down across from me at the table.
For a long minute, neither of us said anything.
"Thank you for coming, Daniel," she said quietly. Her voice was stripped of its usual sharp edge. It sounded tired, but clear.
"How are you holding up?" I asked.
Rebecca let out a dry, short breath. "It’s hard. But... it’s fair. I spend eight hours a day working in the facility library. I’ve started taking courses in accounting ethics." She offered a small, self-deprecating smile. "Irony at its finest, right?"
"How is Mason?" she asked, her eyes filling with instant vulnerability. "Mom writes to me every week, but she only tells me the good news. I need to hear the truth from you, Daniel."
I leaned forward, folding my hands on the table.
"Mason is doing great, Rebecca," I said honestly. "He struggled at first. He was angry at the world. But Dad has been incredible with him. He takes him to tutoring three days a week. Mason joined the middle school soccer team last month. He and Noah are actually close now. They build model rockets together on weekends."
Rebecca covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking as she wept quietly.
"I was so terrible to you," she sobbed softly. "To you, to Emily, to Noah. I thought... I thought because Dad always favored me, I was better than everyone else. I thought I was entitled to whatever I wanted, no matter who I destroyed."
"You were trapped in a loop, Rebecca," I said, keeping my tone calm and grounded. "Dad enabled you, and you took advantage of it until it consumed you. But that loop is broken now."
She wiped her tears with a rough paper napkin and looked at me. "Can... can you ever forgive me, Daniel?"
I looked at my sister—not the spoiled monster who had tried to frame me, but a woman who was finally facing the wreckage of her own choices.
"I already have," I said smoothly. "Because if that night hadn't happened, my family would still be living under Dad's shadow, you would still be chasing a lifestyle you couldn't afford, and Mason would have grown up believing that hurting people is okay. It was a painful explosion, Rebecca. But it was the explosion we all needed to heal."
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Rebecca nodded slowly, reaching across the table to lay her hand over mine. "When I get out... I want to make it right. I don't expect a job at the firm. I just want to be a good mother to Mason. And a real sister to you."
"Focus on finishing your time," I said, giving her hand a firm squeeze. "We’ll be waiting when you get out."
