Chapter 9: The Last Thing He Tried
Ethan didn't come to the house.
He sent Diane.
She arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, unannounced, while Lily and Emma were at school.
I saw her car from the upstairs window — the silver sedan she'd driven for years, the one Ethan had bought her for her sixty-fifth birthday.
She sat in it for four minutes before she got out.
I went downstairs and opened the door before she reached the porch.
She looked older than she had at the party.
The ivory pantsuit was gone.
She was wearing a plain navy coat, and her hair wasn't set the way she usually kept it.
"Maren," she said.
"Diane."
"May I come in?"
I considered it.
"You can sit on the porch," I said.
I brought two cups of coffee.
We sat in the chairs facing the garden.
She held her cup with both hands and didn't drink it.
"He told me about the Alderman Group," she said.
"What did he tell you?"
"Enough." She looked at the garden.
"He told me there were investors.
That some of the money was — handled incorrectly.
That there may be legal consequences."
"There will be legal consequences," I said.
"The question is how many and from how many directions."
She closed her eyes briefly.
"I didn't know," she said.
"About any of it.
I want you to know that."
"I believe you."
She looked at me, surprised.
"I do," I said.
"This isn't something Ethan would have told you.
He needed you to believe the image.
The estate party, the success, all of it.
If you knew the truth, you couldn't perform the part."
Her jaw tightened.
"That's a very cold way to describe your husband."
"It's an accurate one."
She set her coffee down.
Looked at her hands.
"He wants me to ask you to drop the disclosure motion.
He says if the financial records become part of the divorce proceedings, the investor situation becomes much harder to — manage."
"I know."
"He said he'll agree to whatever custody arrangement you want.
Full primary custody.
He won't contest it."
"He's not in a position to contest anything right now, Diane.
His attorney knows that.
That offer is not a concession.
It's damage control."
She was quiet for a moment.
"What do you want?" she asked.
Not the way she'd said things at the party.
Not with the edge.
Just the question, plain and tired.
"I want my daughters to grow up knowing their mother didn't accept what happened at that party." I looked at her directly.
"I want them to know that when someone takes something from you, you don't smile and move the container closer.
I want them to know that."
Diane didn't answer right away.
When she did, her voice was quieter than I had ever heard it.
"I treated you badly," she said.
"For years.
The things I said about your work.
About your daughters." She stopped.
"About sons."
"Yes."
"I thought I was protecting the family."
"You were protecting an idea of the family.
There's a difference."
She picked up her coffee.
Drank it this time.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"For the girls.
Not for Ethan.
For Lily and Emma."
I looked at her for a long moment.
"Be honest with them when they're old enough to ask questions," I said.
"That's all."
She nodded once.
She left without asking again about the disclosure motion.
I went inside and called Patricia.
"Diane came," I said.
"What did she offer?"
"Full custody in exchange for dropping the motion."
"Same offer, different messenger."
"Yes."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing he didn't already know the answer to." I sat down at the kitchen table.
"Patricia.
What happens next?"
"The investor complaints are formally filed as of this morning.
Two of the three have retained the same litigation firm.
They'll move fast." A pause.
"Douglas Fenn withdrew from Ethan's representation yesterday afternoon."
I sat with that.
"His own attorney dropped him."
"Fenn doesn't take cases he can't win.
When the investor complaints landed, he made a calculation." Another pause.
"Ethan is going to need a new attorney.
And whoever takes the case is going to inherit a very complicated situation."
"Good," I said.
"Maren.
It's almost over."
May you like
"I know," I said.
"I just want to be there when it finishes."
