He Sent Me Away for Three Years. Now My Divorce Has Him Panicking. novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Her Best Performance

My mother put Belinda at the kitchen table, in the vinyl chair Dalton had sat in with the wrench.

Ruby took Archie into the front room with Biscuit and a bowl of crackers.

I could hear him through the wall, explaining the dinosaurs to the dog.

"Tea?" my mother asked.

"Please," Belinda said. "Thank you, Mrs. Pennington. You're so kind."

"I'm not," my mother said, and put the kettle on.

Belinda wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"I know how this looks," she said. "I know you think I'm the villain."

"I think you're a woman who walked into my house through a back door," I said.

"I didn't know where else to go. Dalton hasn't slept in days. He's not himself, Monica."

"He sounded like himself on the voicemail."

"He's been saying he'll give up the company." She leaned forward. "He'll resign. He'll burn it all down, and he'll do it over you."

"That's his business."

"It's Archie's business." She pressed a knuckle to her mouth. "Archie has nothing, Monica. He has me, and a man who's not his father, and a name that isn't even on his birth certificate."

"Then why did you hide it?"

"I was twenty-seven. I was scared." Her voice cracked in exactly the right place. "I did what I thought would protect him."

My mother set a mug in front of her without a word.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm asking you to stay away on Friday."

"From the board meeting."

"If you come, they'll fight, and the chair will say things, and Archie's name will be in every paper." Her eyes were enormous and wet. "Please. Let it go through quietly. Let them have the license."

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