one could prove he had intended to kill her.
But Merrick’s testimony and Silas’s journal established that he had knowingly refused to seek medical help after her fall because he feared exposure.
He lost his license permanently and was convicted on charges related to criminal neglect and falsification.
The sentence could never equal the lives he had damaged.
Rosalie learned something difficult from that.
Justice was not the same as restoration.
It did not make Gideon nine again.
It did not bring Eleanor home.
It did not give Rosalie the childhood she should have had.
Justice simply drew a line and said:
What happened mattered.
Sometimes that had to be enough.
Merrick sold the Ashford house.
He used his share to repay as many debts as he could.
Then he stopped drinking.
Not dramatically.
Not perfectly.
He simply started trying.
Rosalie did not forgive him quickly.
Some wounds deserved time.
