Chapter 80

I know exactly where Thea is going, so after calling down my parents, I excuse myself and head home. As expected, Thea’s car is already in my driveway. She didn’t even bother to close the front door.

After parking my own car, I enter the house. Shouting immediately reaches my ears.

“It could still be yours, Garnar!” Thea cries. “We don’t know that it isn’t! I’m so sure it’s yours.”

“How many other men have you given that lie to, Thea? Ten? Twenty?” Garnar shouts back.

“Only you, I swear!”

At the top of the stairs, I see the girls peek around the banister. When they see me looking, they immediately sneak back out of sight, but I’m sure they are still listening.

“Don’t have this fight here,” I say, hurrying forward.

“Stay out of this, Esther,” Garnar snaps.

I glower at him. “Our daughters are listening to every word, Garnar.”

That at least stifles him.

Thea is on her knees, her arms wrapped around Garnar’s legs.

“In the study, damn it,” Garnar says. He reaches down, grips Thea by the arms, and yanks her up to her feet. She acts like her legs have turned to jelly, so Garnar has to physically half-drag, half-carry her to the study.

They are a spectacle, but I force my gaze away as I start for the stairs.

“Where do you think you are going?” Garnar asks me.

“To check on the girls,” I reply.

“Put them to bed but then come right back,” Garnar says. “You are part of this whether you want to be or not.”

I don’t have the faintest idea how, other than Garnar’s still being married to me. Does this have to do with the divorce? I sigh. What a long day.

As I head up the stairs, I hear the girls out of the corner and toward their rooms. At the top of the stairs, I watch as both of their doors slowly, soundlessly shut.

I walk down the hall and stop halfway between the two doors. I reach up and knock on both at the same time. After a moment, Iris’s opens a crack. Violet’s opens wider.

While looking at Iris, I dip my head toward Violet’s door. “In here. We’ll talk a minute, okay?”

“I was sleeping…” Iris says.

I give her a flat look. “Don’t lie.”

Looking sheepish, she brings her hand from around her back and shows that her fingers had been crossed. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I guide her into Violet’s room, then have the girls sit on the floor with me. Both of them stare down at the carpet.

“You must have questions…” I start, unsure where to start myself. I’ve tried my hardest to keep Garnar’s infidelity and our looming divorce from affecting our daughters, but I can see now that might have been the wrong action.

The girls have eavesdropped enough to be confused and sad, if not before than now, certainly.

“Is Aunt Thea really having Dad’s baby?” Iris asks.

Oh, God. They aren’t going to let me off easy here.

I don’t want to slut shame their aunt, so I keep it simple. “I don’t know, honey. Maybe.”

Iris frowns. Her little brows draw together, making her look terribly confused.

“Is Aunt Thea going to be our new Mommy?” Violet asks.

“I will always be your mother,” I say. “No matter what else happens, okay? I love you, your father loves you, and we will both be there for you.”

“Are you getting divorced?” Iris asks. “Kids at school say that’s what their parents tell them before they get divorced.”

I don’t want to lie to them. It wouldn’t solve anything, even though I wish it a solution could be that simple.

“Probably,” I admit. “But it won’t mean I love you any less.”

Violet starts to cry. “Is it because I failed my math test…? I’ll do better, Mommy, I promise!”

“Oh, sweetheart, no.” I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. “It is not your fault at all. Or yours, Iris. It’s a problem me and your father have with each other. That’s all.”

I hold Violet until she stops crying. They have more questions that I struggle to answer, but soon they are yawning so much, they are struggling to keep their eyes open.

Violet falls asleep first, so I tuck her into bed.

Iris looks like the next to fall, so I gently guide her to her room and then once she’s in bed, pull the covers nice and snug up under her chin.

With both girls asleep, I head back downstairs.

When this issue with Thea is resolved, Garnar and I are going to both have to sit down with our daughters and explain what’s going on. We’ve been keeping too much from them. They have the right to know.

But, of course, we really need to agree on a divorce first.

When I enter the study, Garnar is sitting behind his desk, with Thea curled up in the seat in front. She has her legs pulled up, feet on the seat of the chair, and her head buried in her knees.

There’s a tissue box on the edge of the desk. Thea’s holding a few tissues in her hand.

“There you are, Esther,” Garnar says. “It took you long enough.”

“The girls were upset by what they overheard,” I say as I come closer. “We really need to explain –”

“They are too young to understand,” Garnar says. “Sit.” He motions toward the empty chair beside Thea’s.

Why does this feel like a business meeting?

Garnar even laces his fingers together, placing his hands on the desktop as he leans forward.

“Thea and I have agreed to wait until we can DNA test the baby before we make any rash decisions with our relationship,” Garnar says. The words are spoken calmly but there is a vein bulging on the side of his forehead. He’s still furious with her cheating then.

Good. I’m glad he can know what it feels like to find out the person you thought you were committed to, wasn’t as committed in return.

“If the baby isn’t mine, she’s out,” Garnar says.

Thea loudly sobs.

Garnar and I both ignore her.

“This is all fascinating,” I say, “But what does it have to do with me? Whether you stay with Thea or leave her matters very little to me.”

Thea can have him, as far as I’m concerned, and I’ve been thinking that way for a while. That’s nothing new. Garnar should know that.

“This changes things,” Garnar says. “Before her infidelity, I might have considered marrying her, but now, even if the baby is mine, that is not a possibility.”

Charming. So what’s his plan then? To keep Thea as a live-in girlfriend for the rest of her life?

“Since I won’t be marrying Thea,” Garnar continues, “That means that our marriage shall continue.”

“You aren’t giving me the divorce,” I say, realizing.

“No,” Garnar says. “Our children need you. If you try to push a divorce onto me, I will have to insist on full custody, and then you wouldn’t see them at all.”

“You can’t think that’s fair. You just said that they need me!”

“Make the right choice then, Esther. Stay in this house. For our children’s sake, stay married to me.”