“What is this?”
“My divorce filing,” I said. “Emergency financial orders and notice of the bank’s investigation into your forged signature.”
The color drained from his face.
“You did this here?”
“No, Colin. You did this when you signed my name on a mortgage and used our house to pay for your vacation.”
Vanessa stepped away from him.
“You told me you won the trip.”
“I can explain.”
“You have a wife and three newborn daughters,” she said. “You borrowed money against their home and lied to me for four months. What part are you planning to explain?”
Colin reached for her arm.
She pulled away.
“Don’t call me again.”
Then she turned and walked toward the exit.
Colin watched her leave before glaring at me.
“You planned this.”
I adjusted Ava’s blanket.
“I protected my daughters.”
“You always make everything dramatic.”
“No. I spent years making your actions look smaller than they were.”
He opened the envelope and began reading the first page.
His hands started to shake.
“Tessa, we can work something out.”
“You should read all of it first,” I said. “Especially the part about the forged signature.”
He looked down at the stroller.
For the first time, he truly saw the three babies sleeping inside it.
There was regret in his eyes, but it had arrived four months too late.
I folded the welcome sign and placed it beneath the stroller.
Then I pushed my daughters past him.
Colin had once told me I always figured things out.
He was right.
I had figured out that my daughters deserved more than a father who disappeared when they needed him most.
And I had finally figured out that so did I.
