Chapter 10: Everything on the Table
Eleanor called that evening with a name.
"Daniel Frey," she said.
"He handles financial crime.
He's been briefed on everything Patricia sent over this afternoon, and he wants to meet with you tomorrow morning." A pause.
"Stella, he used the word *serious* three times in a ten-minute call.
I want you to be prepared."
"I'm prepared," I said.
"There's something else." Her voice shifted.
"Everett called my office this afternoon.
He asked to speak with me directly."
I sat up straighter.
"What did he say?"
"He offered a settlement.
Informal, over the phone, before any formal process.
He said he would sign the house over to you entirely, drop any claim on the joint accounts, and agree to an uncontested divorce — in exchange for the return of all documents and a signed confidentiality agreement."
The room was very quiet.
"He's scared," I said.
"He is," Eleanor said.
"But Stella, I want you to think carefully.
A settlement like that, on paper, gives you the house cleanly and the accounts.
It ends quickly.
The alternative is a fight that could take a year or more, and if he has resources we haven't found yet—"
"He has a child," I said.
Silence.
"A little girl," I said.
"Four or five years old.
Photographs were in the filing cabinet.
She has his eyes." I paused.
"That child exists.
Whatever he's offering me doesn't change what he did.
It doesn't change the forged signature.
It doesn't change the Cayman account.
It doesn't change the fact that a man named Royce Callahan came to my door today and implied I should be worried about my safety."
"Stella—"
"I'm not signing a confidentiality agreement," I said.
"Not for any amount."
A long pause.
"All right," Eleanor said.
"Then we go forward."
"We go forward."
I ended the call and sat in the quiet study for a moment.
Then I went to find Gerald.
He was in the garden, sitting on the bench near the back fence, looking at the flower beds I hadn't tended since the dinner three nights ago when a fork had clattered against a plate and everything had changed.
I sat beside him.
"Everett offered a settlement," I said.
"He wants me to sign a confidentiality agreement and return the documents."
Gerald looked at his hands.
"He's trying to protect himself," he said.
"I know." I looked at the garden.
"Gerald, I need to ask you something and I need you to answer honestly."
"All right."
"The child in the photographs.
Did you know?"
A very long pause.
"I knew there was someone," he said.
"I didn't know about a child." He shook his head slowly.
"I swear to you, Stella.
I didn't know about a child."
I believed him.
"I'm not taking the settlement," I said.
"I'm going to see this through.
Daniel Frey — the criminal attorney — meets with me tomorrow." I turned to look at him.
"I still need you to speak to Eleanor.
What you told me this morning.
About Everett telling you the property arrangements had been agreed.
About you knowing there was another woman."
Gerald nodded slowly.
"I said I would.
I meant it."
"Shirley is going to be very angry."
"Yes," he said.
"She will." He looked at the flower beds.
"She's been angry at me for fifty-three years, Stella.
I think I can manage a little more."
Something in my chest loosened, just slightly.
"Thank you, Gerald," I said.
He patted my hand once, the way a grandfather might.
Then he stood up carefully, one hand on the back of the bench, and went inside.
I stayed in the garden until the light faded.
Tomorrow, Daniel Frey.
May you like
Tomorrow, the full picture.
Tonight, I sat with the quiet and let myself feel, for the first time since the fork hit the plate, exactly how much had been taken from me — and exactly how much I still had left.
