Mostly, Tommy had told Kate, his mother had wanted his affection for herself. After her death, grief and guilt had weighed on him. She had brainwashed him throughout his life to feel as if he were someone responsible for her emotional well-being, and though her death should have freed him from that, somehow it had done the opposite. His mother’s death had left Tommy feeling as if he had somehow let her down in ways he would now never be able to cure, even though he knew he had been a good son.
