Chapter 14 - THE LAST OFFER
Thursday evening Reena came to Peter’s house.
She was not supposed to enter.
She stayed on the sidewalk.
Peter stepped outside and closed the front door behind him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I want five minutes.”
“You need to go through the attorneys.”
“Peter.”
Something in her voice made him wait.
Reena looked toward the upstairs window.
A paper dinosaur Drew had colored was taped to the glass.
“I know what happens tomorrow.”
“You know what could happen.”
“You’ll get them.”
“Temporarily.”
She laughed once without humor.
“You always have to sound reasonable.”
Peter said nothing.
Reena crossed her arms.
“If I agree to guardianship, will you tell them the money was household money?”
“If that’s what the records show, the records will show it.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
She looked at him sharply.
Peter continued.
“I’m not trading their safety for your finances.”
“You think Mark would want you destroying me?”
Peter’s voice stayed low.
“I think Mark should’ve protected Drew sooner.”
The sentence hurt them both.
Reena looked away.
For several seconds traffic moved quietly on the residential street.
Then she said, “He loved me.”
“I know.”
That was the cruelest truth Peter could give her.
Mark had loved her.
Love had not made her safe.
Reena wiped under one eye.
“Drew hated me before any of this.”
“He was five.”
“He made me feel like I was stealing his mother’s place every day.”
“He was five.”
“I know how old he was!”
The words came out hard.
Then her shoulders dropped.
Peter finally saw the exhausted woman beneath the years of control.
But compassion was not the same thing as permission.
“You could’ve asked for help.”
“From who? You?”
“Yes.”
“You hated me.”
“Yes.”
Reena stared at him.
Peter stepped closer to the porch.
“And I still would’ve taken the kids for a week if you said you were drowning.”
Reena’s face changed.
Because she knew it was true.
Peter opened the door.
“Tell the truth tomorrow.”
“What difference does it make now?”
“It matters to Drew.”
She stood on the sidewalk while Peter went inside.
Through the window he watched her remain there for almost a minute.
May you like
Then she returned to her SUV.
She had one final night to decide whether losing control also had to mean losing the truth.
