Chapter 12 - Phoebe Was the First Hale Spouse Who Refused to Keep the Family Story Intact
Phoebe did not become:
my best friend.
That would have been ridiculous.
She was married to Darwin.
I was the ex-wife who had slapped:
him.
We were connected by:
one ugly truth.
That was enough.
Two weeks after the restaurant, Phoebe confronted Margaret.
Darwin went too.
Charles sat in the room.
According to Phoebe, Margaret denied nothing once they placed:
my letter
and:
the sticky note
on the table.
Darwin asked:
“Did you tell Sydney I knew?”
Margaret cried.
Not answer.
He repeated:
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought she was trying to stop the divorce.”
“She said she was pregnant.”
“We didn’t know it was yours.”
Darwin laughed bitterly.
“She was my wife eight weeks earlier.”
Margaret said:
“She had already become unstable.”
Phoebe interrupted.
“How?”
Margaret looked at her.
“She was obsessed with fertility.”
Phoebe put the medical report on:
the table.
“You told me she had ovarian failure.”
Margaret looked down.
“Her numbers were bad.”
“You told me a doctor said she could never conceive naturally.”
“I said—”
“No.”
Phoebe did not shout.
“You lied.”
Charles finally spoke.
“I didn’t know about the letter.”
Margaret turned toward him.
“Charles.”
He stared.
“What?”
“You knew I didn’t want Darwin pulled back into that marriage.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Interesting.
Family complicity had:
levels.
Charles had supported:
the divorce,
the infertility narrative,
the idea Sydney was “not suited” for the family.
But he claimed he did not know about:
the pregnancy letter.
Darwin believed him.
I never needed to decide.
Then Margaret said the sentence that explained her:
“You were finally free.”
Darwin stared.
“From my wife?”
“From years of disappointment.”
Then:
“You could meet someone who could give you a family.”
Phoebe went completely still.
Because Phoebe had:
endometriosis.
Margaret immediately realized what she had said.
Too late.
Phoebe answered:
“So if I can’t, what happens to me?”
“Phoebe, that is not what—”
“It is exactly what you said.”
That was the first moment Margaret’s family doctrine turned against:
the woman currently inside the family.
Phoebe left.
Darwin followed.
They did not divorce immediately.
They did something less dramatic.
They stopped seeing Margaret for:
three months.
For the first time in his life, Darwin allowed his mother to be:
hurt,
angry,
alone
without immediately fixing it.
May you like
That mattered.
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