Chapter 8 - Molly Asks The Question I Feared
Molly heard more than I realized.
Children always do.
Three nights after the wedding, she climbed into my bed while Nathan was downstairs.
“Did Aunt Paige like Dad?”
I felt my entire body go still.
“Your dad?”
“Grant.”
“Yes.”
“No. I mean like you liked him.”
There it was.
Nine years old.
Old enough to understand tone.
Too young to carry adult betrayal.
I chose my words carefully.
“Aunt Paige and your dad made choices that hurt our family.”
“Did he leave you for her?”
“No.”
That part mattered.
Grant had not built a life with Paige.
Their affair ended during the divorce.
“Then why?”
“Because sometimes adults make selfish decisions even when they love people.”
Molly thought for a moment.
“Did I make him want to leave?”
My throat closed.
I pulled her against me.
“No. Never.”
“Because Aunt Paige said—”
“I know what she said.”
I held her tighter.
“She was wrong. Your dad’s choices belong to him. My choices belong to me. Aunt Paige’s choices belong to her. None belong to you.”
Molly started crying quietly.
I hated Paige in that moment more than I had when I discovered the affair.
Not because of Grant.
Because she had handed a child an adult burden simply to humiliate me.
Later, I called Grant.
“You need to talk to Molly.”
His voice changed immediately.
“What happened?”
I told him.
He arrived the next afternoon.
I stayed nearby but gave them privacy.
Grant told Molly directly:
“I did not leave because of you. I made mistakes in my marriage to your mom. You never caused them.”
Molly asked:
“Was Aunt Paige one?”
Grant paused.
“Yes.”
He didn’t lie.
He didn’t explain details.
Afterward, he sat on my porch.
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded.
“For Molly,” he added.
That mattered more.
The story was no longer about who hurt me three years ago.
It was about who was willing to stop passing the harm down.
Grant had finally taken one step.
Paige had taken none.
Instead, that evening, she sent Mom a message claiming I was “brainwashing Molly against family.”
Mom forwarded it to me.
Then immediately wrote:
I am not asking you to respond. I just thought you should know.
Progress.
May you like
Small.
But real.
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