“There was no company contest,” I explained. “He borrowed against our house to pay for the trip.”
“That is not true,” Daniel said quickly.
“I found the loan documents. I found the bank notices. And I found a signature that resembles mine but was not written by me.”
Claire looked at him as though she were seeing a stranger.
“You told me you won the cruise.”
Daniel tried to smile.
“I can explain.”
“Can you?” she asked.
He reached toward her arm, but she stepped away.
“You have a wife, three newborn daughters, a house in financial trouble, and loan documents with a questionable signature,” she said. “What explanation could possibly make that acceptable?”
Daniel looked at me with anger now that his performance had failed.
“You set me up.”
I adjusted the blanket around the baby closest to me.
“No. I simply allowed the truth to be waiting when you arrived.”
He opened the envelope with shaking hands and hurried through the pages.
“Helen, listen to me.”
“I listened for months,” I said. “I listened when you claimed you needed space. I listened when you promised we would talk later. I listened while you treated leaving your family as though it were temporary instead of a choice.”
Claire was already backing away.
“Do not contact me again,” she told him.
