Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT NATHANIEL BEGGED HER TO COME HOME
Nathaniel called Rebecca on a Sunday evening.
She answered only because Eleanor had informed her that he wanted to discuss the marital property arrangements.
“Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
His voice sounded tired.
“I miss you.”
She closed her eyes.
“Nathaniel.”
“I know you don't want to hear that.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because it's true.”
Rebecca looked toward the garden.
For a moment, she remembered their first apartment.
The cheap furniture.
The nights they ate cereal for dinner.
The way Nathaniel used to kiss her forehead before leaving for work.
Then she remembered Sloane's bracelet.
The lies.
The forged signature.
The boardroom.
“I miss who we were,” she said quietly.
Nathaniel was silent.
Then he whispered, “So do I.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“But we aren't those people anymore.”
“We could be.”
“No.”
“Rebecca—”
“I can't go back to a marriage where I have to pretend not to see what's happening.”
He began crying.
That surprised her.
Nathaniel rarely cried.
Not when his father died.
Not when Crosswell nearly failed.
Not even when they lost their first pregnancy seven years earlier.
Rebecca remembered sitting alone in the hospital afterward while Nathaniel took business calls in the hallway.
She had forgiven him.
At the time, she believed he was coping differently.
Now she wondered whether she'd spent years explaining away his absence.
Nathaniel whispered, “I made a terrible mistake.”
Rebecca looked down.
“Which one?”
He said nothing.
“The affair?”
Silence.
“The financial documents?”
More silence.
“The way you treated me in front of your board?”
He exhaled.
“All of it.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I believe you're sorry.”
His voice brightened.
“Then maybe—”
“But being sorry doesn't undo twelve years of choices.”
He went quiet.
Rebecca continued.
“I loved you, Nathaniel. I loved you when we had nothing. I loved you when you were successful. I loved you when you stopped making time for me.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“But I can't keep loving you at the expense of myself.”
He whispered, “Please don't do this.”
Rebecca took a breath.
“I'm filing for divorce.”
Silence.
Then Nathaniel began crying harder.
Rebecca cried too.
Not because she doubted her decision.
Because ending a marriage could be right and still hurt terribly.
After the call, Rebecca sat alone for a long time.
Then she opened a drawer.
Inside lay a photograph from their courthouse wedding.
Nathaniel smiling.
Rebecca laughing.
Two people who believed love would be enough.
She touched the photograph.
“Goodbye, Nate.”
Then she placed it in a memory box.
May you like
Not to erase the past.
But to stop living inside it.
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