Page 44 of Heartbroken Husband
“Fine.” I folded my hands on the desk in front of me. “I want to review those contracts before they get sent to Adeline. I’m not letting anything slip through the cracks.”
“I figured. Alex has already mentioned taking you through the terms for your additions or amendments before you discuss them with her,” he said, then paused for another beat. “Are you okay? I mean, you can’t be. This is a lot.”
I thought about the way she’d signed her divorce papers, how she hadn’t even hesitated before putting pen to paper, and then I thought about those girls, both of them sick and Adeline as well, but she’d sent the nanny away so she wouldn’t get sick too.
“Adeline signed away every penny in exchange for her daughters,” I said. “She gave it all away without even flinching just so she would get full custody of kids that asshole doesn’t even want. I’m not letting her struggle, Nate. I’m going throughwith it. As long as it’s her choice whether she agrees. I’m not trying to force her into anything.”
“Would you be okay with that?” he asked. “If she decides not to go through with it?”
“No, but I’ll accept it,” I said honestly. “I’m setting up trust accounts for the girls either way. I’ve started the process already.”
His eyebrows hiked up. “Already? You don’t even know if she’s going to marry you yet.”
“That doesn’t matter.” I shrugged. “I’m not tying their security to a marriage contract. If she decides she doesn’t want to, so be it, I’m still setting up these accounts for them.”
“Why?”
It was a simple question, but the answer was significantly more complicated. Unfortunately, Nate noticed my hesitation, which didn’t come as much of a surprise. Nate always noticed and he never let the important things go once he had noticed.
“What is it, Zach? They’re not your kids. I mean, unless I’m really bad at math?—”
“It’s not your money,” I countered, turning my attention back to my laptop just to look busy.
“Look, I know you’ve done really well for yourself and I know that means you can be generous without batting an eye, but setting up trust accounts for kids who aren’t yours? They’re not your responsibility.”
“And what I do with my money isn’t any concern of yours.”
He sighed. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it. All I’m asking is why you would. It’s one thing to set them up after she’s agreed to marry you, but?—”
“I’m doing it because they should’ve been mine,” I snapped, breathing hard when I finally looked back at him. “All of this, including the fact that they were born to a man who doesn’t want them because they have the wrong genitalia, is my fault. Thosegirls don’t deserve what happened to them and that’s on me. The least I can do is give them some money. I don’t have anyone else to leave it to anyway.”
For once in his life, Nate was speechless, just sitting there staring at me like I’d told him I believed aliens lived in our backyard. After taking a moment to regain control of my harsh breathing, I cleared my throat and turned back to the laptop, typing something meaningless just to fill the silence.
Finally, when he still hadn’t said anything several long minutes later, I snapped the computer shut and brought my gaze back up to his. “Okay. I feel like a jackass sitting here, pretending that was a normal thing to say.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“No.”
“Okay, well, we’re going to anyway.”
“Fantastic.”
“You’ve been carrying that around for a while, huh?”
I nodded, then dropped my head back to stare at the patterns pressed into the ceiling. “I should’ve fought harder for her, Nate. I should’ve put my foot down. I should have just fucking donesomething. Anything would’ve been better than just letting it happen.”
“Okay, I hear you, but you didn’t just let it happen,” he said. “You did fight for her. Old Man Morris wouldn’t hear you out.”
“Which is why I should’ve fought harder. I could’ve made him listen, Nate. If I kept trying, he might’ve come around, but I gave up and I never should’ve done that.”
“No, you couldn’t make him listen, man.” He exhaled a long breath, propping his elbows on his knees and staring directly at me. “You’re rewriting history here, Zach.”
“I’m not. I’m just remembering it.”
“No, you’re editing it,” he said gently. “You did everything you could at the time.”
I shook my head. “There were contracts being negotiated and meetings being had. Dozens of steps were taken before she saidI do. I should’ve gotten in front of it. It’s not like I didn’t have time.”
