“I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“You were thinking clearly enough to create fake names.”
His face tightened.
“That was Caleb.”
“You signed documents.”
“Yes.”
“You took money.”
Adrian started crying.
“The money was supposed to be reimbursement.”
“Eighteen thousand dollars went into your company.”
“I used it to keep us from bankruptcy.”
I laughed.
It sounded horrible.
“You monetized our baby.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I told myself he would have a better life.”
“You never asked me.”
“You were barely conscious.”
“I woke up.”
He looked down.
“That made it harder.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“If you had known he was alive, you never would have agreed.”
The truth was so naked that nobody spoke.
I whispered:
“Exactly.”
Adrian cried harder.
“I thought once it was done, telling you would destroy everything.”
“So you told me he died.”
“Yes.”
“You let me grieve.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me light a candle every October nineteenth.”
