I needed to hear the truth.
Then I picked it up.
My FIL, well, husband’s password was simple: his name.
I found the contact.
Kelly.
I saved the number, then put the phone back exactly where it had been.
My hands were shaking when I walked out.
The next morning, I opened my phone and read the response to my message that read, “Hi, this is Catherine. Sean’s ex. Could we talk?”
When I left the house, I told Peter I needed to run some errands.
He didn’t question it.
That almost made it worse.
My hands were shaking.
I drove to a small coffee place across town.
When Kelly arrived, she looked younger than I remembered.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I said it.
“I need to know what you told Peter.”
“He talked about you and the kids as if it were already decided,” she said without hesitation.
I frowned.
“He’d say things as if it were only a matter of time. That you’d get overwhelmed and things would… shift. That the kids would end up with him full-time, and you’d just… fade out of the picture.”
“I need to know what you told Peter.”
I stared at her.
“He actually said that?”
She nodded. “More than once.”
“You’re sure?”
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I weren’t. And it’s one of the reasons I quit working for him.”
***
I sat in my car for a long time after that.
Not crying or angry, just clear for the first time in a long time.
I’d thought I was reacting to something that happened suddenly.
But it had been building.
And I’d missed it.
“He actually said that?”
That afternoon, I picked up the kids myself.
I spoke to Jonathan’s teacher and asked questions I should’ve asked long ago.
I checked Lila’s schedule and confirmed things directly.
It felt strange at first, as if I were stepping into a role I should’ve never stepped out of.
But with each conversation, something settled.
I wasn’t guessing anymore.
I was showing up.
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