Chapter 5
I did not answer Vanessa that night.
I showed her message to Priya the next morning. She said I was free to speak with Vanessa, but I should choose a public place and avoid treating anything she said as proven without records.
I asked Vanessa to meet me at a café near Priya’s office.
She arrived ten minutes early. I knew her from the photographs on Daniel’s phone. In person, she looked nervous and younger than I had expected. One hand rested over her stomach.
“I’m sorry,” she said before sitting down.
“I came for the truth.”
She nodded.
Daniel had told her he was separated when they met. According to Vanessa, he said we still shared a house because Sophie needed time to adjust.
“He brought me there once,” she said.
I felt my hand tighten around my cup.
“When?”
“Last month. You and Sophie were away.”
Grace and I had taken Sophie to visit our aunt for the weekend. Daniel stayed home because he said he had too much work.
Vanessa saw my expression.
“I thought you’d already moved out,” she said. “He said you were visiting family while you chose an apartment.”
I wanted to hate her. I could still be angry about her relationship with my husband without pretending she had heard the same story I had.
“Did he tell you he wanted to stay married?”
“No. He said the divorce papers were nearly ready.”
I looked out the window.
“Ruth knew you?” I asked.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“She came to my apartment in July.”
“She met you?”
“She said Daniel had made a mess and she was going to put it right. She asked me not to contact you.”
“What did she mean by ‘put it right’?”
“She said the house needed to be settled before the divorce.”
I thought of the loan application.
Vanessa took a folded statement from her bag. She had printed the transfers into her business account.
“Daniel said it was money from his savings,” she said. “I didn’t ask enough questions. When I saw your message about the missing money in the papers his lawyer sent, I checked the dates.”
“He sent you my papers?”
“Only one page. He wanted me to say the transfers were investments.”
She slid the statement toward me.
“Some of the money bought furniture for the apartments. Some paid for medical visits. I can return what’s left. The furniture can be sold.”
I did not touch the paper yet.
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because I’m having this baby. I need to know what kind of father I’m dealing with.”
I believed her fear. I also knew she had come because she now needed distance from Daniel’s lies.
“You should speak with your own lawyer,” I said. “And give Priya copies of what you have.”
“I will.”
Before she left, Vanessa told me one more thing. Daniel had promised that after the loan against my house closed, he would invest another hundred thousand dollars in her company. She thought he had an agreement with me.
“He said you owned the house but wanted him to manage the money.”
I let out a breath that hurt my chest.
At Priya’s office, I gave her Vanessa’s statement and my notes from the meeting. Priya would ask Vanessa for documents directly.
“The loan didn’t close,” she reminded me. “That matters.”
“I know. But they tried.”
“Yes. And you stopped it.”
I had been so focused on what Daniel and Ruth had done that I had not thought of the application as something I had successfully stopped. For a moment, I let myself feel it.
When I returned to Grace’s house, Sophie was drawing at the kitchen table. She had made two houses with a path between them.
“Which one is this?” I asked.
“This one’s Aunt Grace’s. This one’s ours.”
She colored the roof of our house blue.
“Will I get to sleep in my room again?”
“I’m working on that.”
“Can you come with me?”
“Of course.”
She nodded and went back to drawing.
I wanted to return home with her. I also wanted to make sure Daniel could not use the house to pressure us once we were there. Priya had filed for temporary arrangements about parenting and who would live in the house while the divorce proceeded. We were waiting for a hearing.
Two days later, Daniel sent me a message asking to meet alone.
I declined. I offered a call with Priya present or a written exchange.
He replied:
Vanessa came to see you. You had no right.
I showed Priya. She told me to save it and did not ask me to answer.
That afternoon, I picked Sophie up from art class. Ruth was standing outside beside Daniel’s car.
Sophie saw her first and waved.
Ruth smiled at my daughter. Then she looked at me.
“I only wanted to say hello,” she said.
“You can call to arrange a visit,” I answered. “Please don’t wait for us outside her class.”
A teacher came toward the door. Ruth glanced at her, then opened Daniel’s car and got in.
Sophie watched them drive away.
“Grandma said Dad might need a new place to live,” she whispered. “Is he losing our house?”
I knelt beside her on the sidewalk.
“Dad has somewhere safe to stay. No one asked you to worry about that.”
She searched my face.
“Grandma said you could help him.”
May you like
I pulled Sophie close. Ruth had used the same fear on me at the front door. Now she was giving it to my child.
That night, I called Priya and told her everything Ruth had said outside the art room.
