[He sucks in a small breath of empathy when she talks about her mother. He can only imagine how traumatic an experience it was, and he understands what it's like to have conflicting feelings towards a parental figure.]

It wasn't, you know. It wasn't your fault, and that was terrible of her to imply otherwise.

Having our parents fall short of what we expect them to be, what they should be, is never easy. That you had to be the one to stand against her isn't something that most people would have been able to do. I'm sorry that you had to.