Chapter 6: The Conversation Daniel Never Expected Me to Have
Megan answered on the third ring.
Her voice was tired in the way that new mothers are tired — a specific, bone-deep exhaustion that has no bottom.
"Esme?"
"Hi, Megan.
I'm sorry to call without warning.
Do you have a few minutes?"
A pause.
The sound of a baby murmuring somewhere nearby.
"Yeah.
They're both asleep right now.
Miracle of the century." A small, worn laugh.
"Is everything okay?"
"I'm not sure yet," I said.
"That's actually why I'm calling."
I heard her shift.
Sit down, maybe.
"Megan, I need to ask you something directly, and I need you to be honest with me.
Not for my sake.
For yours."
"Okay." Her voice had changed.
Careful now.
"How much money has Daniel been sending you each month?"
Silence.
"Megan."
"He said he talked to you about it."
"He told me about it this week.
But the transfers started three months ago.
Before the twins were born."
Another silence.
Longer.
"He said you both agreed," she said quietly.
"He said it was from both of you."
I closed my eyes briefly.
"It wasn't from both of us.
I didn't know about it until this week."
The sound on the other end of the line changed.
I heard her exhale — the long, careful exhale of someone absorbing something they were afraid of.
"Esme, I swear I didn't know that.
He told me — he specifically told me you had both decided to help.
He said you were the one who suggested it."
"I know," I said.
"I believe you."
"Oh God." Her voice dropped.
"I wouldn't have taken it if I'd known.
I wouldn't have — I have some savings.
I've been managing.
I took it because I thought—" She stopped.
"I thought you wanted to help me."
"I do want to help you.
I have been helping you.
The difference is that the help I gave you, I gave freely.
What Daniel sent you, he sent without telling me."
She was quiet for a moment.
Then: "How much trouble is he in?"
"That depends on some things I'm still figuring out."
"Esme." Her voice was very small now.
"I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I feel sick."
"Don't.
You didn't do anything wrong."
"I should have called you directly.
I should have—"
"Megan.
Stop." I kept my voice gentle.
"You had newborn twins and no partner and you trusted your brother.
None of that is your fault."
A shaky breath on the other end.
"Can I ask you something?" Megan said.
"Yes."
"Warren.
Did Daniel tell you about Warren?"
"He told me they had a falling out.
That Warren left and took a client."
"Did he tell you why they had a falling out?"
I paused.
"Not specifically."
Another exhale.
Slower this time.
"Warren didn't just leave the business," Megan said.
"Daniel found out Warren had been skimming from their client accounts.
Small amounts.
Consistently.
For over a year." She paused.
"Daniel confronted him.
Warren denied it.
Daniel ended the partnership and told Warren if he didn't repay what he'd taken, he'd report it."
I sat very still.
"Warren repaid part of it.
Not all.
And then he took the client and left." Megan's voice was flat now.
Recounting facts.
"Daniel never reported him.
Because reporting him would have meant admitting he hadn't caught it sooner.
It would have damaged the business's reputation either way."
"So Daniel absorbed the loss," I said slowly.
"And said nothing."
"He was protecting the business.
He was protecting me — he didn't want me stressed while I was pregnant.
He was trying to protect everyone." A pause.
"That's what Daniel does.
He tries to protect everyone and he does it alone and he doesn't tell anyone what it costs him."
I looked at the wall of my office.
"That doesn't make it right," I said.
"What he did to our finances—"
"No," Megan agreed.
"It doesn't.
I'm not defending that.
I'm just—" She stopped.
"I thought you should know the whole picture."
After I hung up, I sat without moving for a long time.
The whole picture was considerably more complicated than I had thought when I woke up that morning.
Daniel had been wronged.
He had responded by wronging me.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, a woman with two six-week-old babies had been used as the reason without ever being asked.
I heard Daniel's footsteps in the hallway.
They stopped outside the office door.
He knocked.
"Esme.
I just got off the phone with Megan."
I didn't answer.
"She told me she called you." A pause.
"Or you called her."
"Come in," I said.
He opened the door.
He looked like a man who had aged five years since breakfast.
"She told you about Warren," he said.
"Yes."
He leaned against the doorframe.
"I should have told you."
"Which part?"
"All of it." He looked at the floor.
"The business.
Warren.
What it cost us.
All of it.
I should have told you from the beginning."
I looked at him for a long moment.
"Why didn't you?"
He was quiet.
Then: "Because you've always been the capable one.
You've always had everything managed.
And I didn't want you to look at me and see someone who couldn't manage his own house."
The words landed quietly.
"So instead," I said, "you let me look at you and see someone who was stealing from me."
He flinched.
"That's not what I intended."
"I know.
But that's what happened."
He stood in the doorway.
He didn't try to argue.
He didn't reach for the measured, reasonable expression.
He just stood there, looking at his wife, who was looking back at him with clear eyes and a very still face.
"What happens now?" he asked.
"Now," I said, "you're going to sit down.
And you're going to tell me everything.
The real numbers.
The real timeline.
Everything Warren took.
Everything the business actually looks like right now.
All of it."
He nodded slowly.
"And then," I said, "we're going to figure out what we do next."
May you like
He came in and sat down.
And for the first time in what I now understood had been a very long three months, Daniel told me the truth.
