At dinner that night, Alan asked.
"How did it go?"
"Okay" Charlie shrugged.
"I know it's hard, but in the long run, you'll be better off" Alan assured his youngest.
The mathematician had his doubts.
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Charlie met with the therapist a week later.
"Today, we're going to do a little roleplaying" she announced.
"Roleplaying?" Charlie didn't like the sound of it.
"I'll pretend to be your mother, and you can express what you feel"
"How can you possibly know what my mother would say?" Charlie asked with annoyance.
She suggested "Then you can pretend to be your mother"
"I don't know..." He didn't agree with what his mother had done so how could he argue her side?
"I guess we could save it for another time" she didn't want to push him.
"Yeah, let's" Charlie quickly agreed.
The therapist folded her hands "So...how are you getting along with your biological father?"
"Great! We hang out, and catch up" Charlie said. "I'm getting to know him, Dawn, and Marc"
"How are things with your stepfather?"
"The personal trainer told me that he's making some progress, and I think he's getting used to the new diet" Charlie smiled.
"You got him a personal trainer?"
"Yeah, otherwise, he wouldn't do any exercise " Charlie explained. "When he had his heart attack, I realized that I did love him like a father, and I learned not to take him for granted"
"So you forgave him?"
"Yeah. He was a victim of what my mother did, just like me and Don" Charlie explained.
"Have you ever thought about what you would have done in your mother's place?"
"I would have told my kid the truth!" Charlie quickly told her. "As soon as he or she were old enough!"
"How do you think your child would have felt?"
"Hurt, but not as hurt as finding out by accident as an adult!" Charlie told her firmly. The therapist could sense the rage within, and realized again, that Charlie had a long road ahead of recovery, let alone forgiving his mother.
TBC