Chapter 65

After Cess receives a letter from Mabel’s father’s lawyer outlining plans for Rosehill and a new family, Mabel, anxious about Christos’s absence from school and reeling from her father’s schemes, rides with Daphne to clear her head and investigate.

They locate Susan’s bungalow using the parish directory and watch from across the street. Amelia plays high in a jacaranda tree. When Susan calls her in for dinner, Amelia hesitates at the final drop and calls for help.

Mabel’s father emerges. Standing beneath the branch, he extends his arms but, when Amelia slides, he does not catch her. Amelia falls, cries in pain, and clutches her arm. He tells her to stop making a fuss and blames her for jumping.

Susan rushes out, soothes Amelia, and suspects her arm may be broken, while Mabel’s father asks about dinner. The scene mirrors Mabel’s childhood: his irritation at helplessness, the dismissal of harm, and a partner cushioning his cruelty.

Riding home in silence, Mabel processes what she witnessed. Any hope or fear of being replaced dissolves into clarity: her father’s coldness is habitual and targeted at the vulnerable. Mabel concludes he is a monster—and that his lack of love was never about her.