Chapter 12 - My Father Finally Said What He Wanted
The meeting took place in a private conference room at a mediation center in Northbrook.
Walter arrived first.
Evelyn sat beside him.
Julian and Claire sat across the table.
Nobody hugged.
Walter began immediately.
“If this is about money—”
“It isn’t.”
“Then why are we here?”
Julian placed copies of the schedule messages on the table.
Walter glanced at them.
He did not pick them up.
“Why did you keep sending me away when Nat was at the mansion?”
“I had work for you.”
“Why did you tell Brooke to stay away?”
Walter’s jaw tightened.
“I was trying to reduce interference.”
“With what?”
Evelyn looked at him.
Walter did not answer.
Claire spoke.
“With making Nat miserable?”
Evelyn shifted.
“I never intended for that boy to be afraid.”
Julian turned to her.
“You put him in a trash bin.”
“It was padded.”
Claire actually flinched.
Evelyn realized how monstrous the defense sounded and stopped.
Julian waited.
Finally Evelyn said, “He behaved as though he belonged there.”
Claire stared at her.
“He was living there.”
“It wasn’t his home.”
“He was five.”
Evelyn looked down.
Walter stepped in.
“This melodrama is exactly the problem.”
Julian leaned forward.
“What problem?”
“You were restructuring your entire life around Claire and that child.”
“My wife and son.”
“Your wife and her son.”
“Say it.”
Walter’s eyes hardened.
“Say what?”
“What you wanted.”
Walter looked toward the window.
Julian waited.
At last his father said, “I wanted Claire to decide the arrangement wasn’t sustainable.”
Claire’s voice was almost a whisper.
“You wanted me to leave.”
“I wanted Julian to have space to make a rational decision.”
“About Nat?”
“About everything.”
Julian felt strangely calm.
“The company.”
“Yes.”
“The adoption.”
“Yes.”
“Claire.”
Walter did not answer.
Evelyn did.
“He thought if Claire moved out, you’d eventually understand.”
Julian looked at his stepmother.
“And you?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled, but not with the kind of remorse Julian wanted.
“I was tired.”
“Of what?”
“Being expected to treat someone else’s child like Walter’s grandson.”
Claire pushed her chair back several inches.
Evelyn continued defensively.
“Walter kept saying you were throwing away your future. Every conversation became about Nat. Every plan had to accommodate Nat.”
“So you punished him.”
“I wanted him to understand that the Mercer house was not his.”
Walter snapped, “Enough.”
Julian looked from one to the other.
There it was.
Walter wanted control.
Evelyn wanted status and peace inside her marriage.
Neither needed to hate Nat every minute of every day.
They only needed to value their own needs more than his safety.
Julian stood.
Walter frowned.
“We’re not finished.”
“Yes, we are.”
“What do you want from me?”
Julian looked at him.
May you like
“Nothing anymore.”
That frightened Walter more than anger had.
