Chapter 9: The Whole Truth
He talked for two hours.
I sat across the table from him with a cold cup of coffee and I listened, and Petra sat beside me and listened too, and the babies slept upstairs while Alaric took apart the last four years of our marriage and laid the pieces on the kitchen table one by one.
He had met Diane at a work conference.
That part was ordinary, almost insultingly so.
She was in the same industry.
They had drinks.
Then more drinks.
Then a second trip, six months later, and by then it had become something he didn't know how to stop.
"I kept thinking I would end it," he said.
"After the third IVF round.
After the fourth.
I kept telling myself — when this is over, when Nevaeh is okay, I'll end it."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"And Diane knew about the IVF?"
He hesitated.
"I told her you were having fertility treatments.
I didn't tell her how much it meant to you.
I made it sound—" He stopped.
"Like an obsession," I said.
"That's the word she used last night.
She said you told her I was obsessed."
"I was trying to justify myself to her.
I made you into something smaller so I could feel less guilty about what I was doing." He looked at the table.
"That's the worst part.
I knew who you were.
I knew what those years cost you.
And I still did it."
Petra's hand found mine under the table.
"When the fifth round worked," he continued, "I panicked.
I told Diane it was over.
She didn't accept that.
She said if I was staying in the marriage, she would tell you everything herself."
"So you offered her the children instead."
He closed his eyes.
"She said she wanted a family.
She knew she couldn't have children of her own.
She said — if the babies come and you hand me the life you promised, I'll disappear.
You'll never hear from me again."
"And you agreed."
"I thought I was protecting you.
Protecting the marriage.
I told myself you'd be devastated for a while but you'd rebuild.
You were strong.
You'd always been strong."
"I was strong because I had to be," I said.
"Not because I didn't need anything."
He looked at me then.
Really looked, the way he hadn't since I opened the front door last night.
"I know," he said.
"I know that now."
The room was quiet for a moment.
Then Petra said, "Did Diane know about the forged waiver?"
Alaric nodded.
"It was her idea.
She has a background in contract law.
She drafted the language and sent it to the attorney."
Conrad needed to know this.
I picked up my phone and sent him a message.
"She drafted it," I said.
"So she's not just the other woman.
She's part of the legal scheme."
"Yes."
"Conrad will want a statement from you."
"I'll give him one."
I stood up.
I needed to move.
I walked to the window and looked at the backyard — the yard we had talked about putting a swing set in, back when a baby was still just a hope.
"What do you want, Alaric?" I asked without turning around.
"Not what Diane wanted.
Not what your attorney advised.
What do you actually want?"
A long silence.
"I want to be in their lives," he said.
"Luke, Thaddeus, Grace.
I know I have no right to ask for that.
But it's the truth."
"And us?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That answer was its own answer.
"I didn't think so," I said.
I turned around.
"Here's what's going to happen," I said.
"Conrad is going to file his motions.
The waiver gets voided.
The guardianship documents get buried.
The house stays in both our names until we sort out the rest through proper legal channels." I crossed my arms.
"And if you want any kind of relationship with those babies, you will cooperate with every single thing Conrad asks of you.
Fully.
Immediately.
No delays, no new attorneys playing games, no Diane advising you from the sidelines."
"Diane is gone."
"Make sure she stays that way."
He nodded.
"And Alaric." I held his gaze.
"If you ever — ever — try to use a legal document to take my children from me again, I will make sure every person who knows you understands exactly what you planned in this house while I was on bed rest carrying your babies."
He didn't look away.
"I understand," he said.
Upstairs, Grace woke up.
May you like
Her cry was small and clear and certain.
I went to get her.
