Chapter 3: Go Home Mom
Diane's jaw tightened.
"Everything I have done has been for you."
"Give me the document," Daniel said.
She held it against her chest.
"Daniel—"
"Mom." His voice dropped.
"Give it to me."
She handed it over.
He read it once, folded it carefully, and passed it back to me.
Then he looked at his mother with an expression I had never seen on him before — not anger exactly.
Something quieter and more final than anger.
"You need to go home," he said.
"This is my son's home.
I have every right—"
"You changed the locks while my wife was delivering our child.
You told the neighbors she abandoned us." He shifted our daughter to his other arm.
"Go home, Mom."
Ruth was still standing on her porch.
She had heard every word.
Diane knew it.
She looked once at Ruth, once at me, and then walked to her car without speaking.
She didn't look back.
---
I thought that was the end of it.
I was wrong.
Three days later, Diane called Daniel while we were eating dinner.
He put the phone on the table between us and let it ring four times before he answered and put it on speaker.
"I need to speak to you privately," Diane said.
"Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of my wife."
A pause.
"Fine.
May you like
I want you to know that I spoke to a solicitor."
I set my fork down.
