Chapter 12 - The Conversation Derek Could No Longer Control
Hannah saw Derek in person for the first time six weeks after Eli’s birth.
The meeting took place in a family-law mediation office.
Attorneys were present.
The door remained open to an outer conference area.
Derek looked thinner.
He had shaved.
He wore a gray button-down Hannah had bought him for their anniversary.
For one second she hated herself for noticing.
Six years of marriage did not disappear because someone finally named what had been happening inside it.
Derek looked at her.
“You look good.”
Hannah did not answer.
He tried again.
“How’s Eli?”
“Healthy.”
“I miss him.”
“I believe you.”
Derek seemed surprised.
Hannah continued.
“Missing him does not undo what happened.”
His jaw tightened.
“I apologized.”
“You described assaulting me as an argument that got out of hand.”
“You hit me too.”
“There it is.”
Derek leaned back.
“You think your father’s innocent?”
“No.”
That answer stopped him.
Hannah watched his expression carefully.
“I know he hid things from me.”
Derek looked toward his attorney.
“I know he cared about protecting his company’s reputation.”
Derek’s mouth tightened.
“And I know he let you convince him I couldn’t handle the truth.”
For a moment Derek almost smiled.
“Exactly.”
Hannah shook her head.
“That doesn’t help you.”
The smile vanished.
“Because the difference is that Dad finally admitted what he did.”
Derek looked away.
Hannah asked, “Why did you keep me away from him?”
“I didn’t.”
She placed printed copies of the messages on the table.
Derek glanced at them.
“You were stressed. You kept changing your mind about your dad.”
“I didn’t write these.”
“You don’t remember half that pregnancy.”
Hannah felt cold.
There it was again.
The strategy.
Make her uncertainty evidence against her.
“You sent one while I was having an ultrasound.”
Derek said nothing.
“You sent another at two in the morning.”
Nothing.
“You used my pregnancy to make me look unreliable.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Then why were you scared when I told you Dad was coming?”
Derek’s face hardened.
“Because your father has spent years trying to control our marriage.”
“No.”
Hannah leaned forward.
“You were afraid he was going to tell me why you were really fired.”
Derek finally lost the smooth tone.
“Your father ruined me over paperwork.”
Thomas was not there.
There was nobody else to blame.
Hannah let Derek’s words remain exactly as he had said them.
Then she asked quietly, “And what were you protecting when you hit me?”
Derek’s eyes shifted.
May you like
He never answered.
That was answer enough.
