Part 5
Part 5 · 2 min read ·
“Usually because somebody needed it fixed.”
“I know that now.”
She admitted she’d spent years telling herself I had taken her place in her daughter’s life.
And Ruth had allowed her to believe it.
“Every time they called you the Colonel, I laughed,” Delores said. “Because it meant my daughter saw what I saw. A man who’d taken my place.”
“I never wanted your place, Delores.”
“I know.”
She reached for her handbag.
“I’m her mother. You’re her husband. There was always room for the two of us.”
I sat there quietly.
“I don’t expect you to forgive Ruth because I said I’m sorry,” she added.
“Good.”
Delores almost smiled.
“You’ve changed.”
“No,” I answered. “I just stopped hiding it.”
A week after I’d left our anniversary dinner, Ruth came to my father’s house.
I opened the door.
“I know how long it’s been,” she said when she saw me. “Can I come in?”
I stepped aside.
“Coffee?”
She looked surprised.
“You’re making me coffee?”
“I’m being polite.”
“I don’t want polite, Eli. I want to know what this is.”
She looked at the paperwork on the table.
“Looks like you’re building a case.”
“You walked in ready for a fight.”
“Isn’t that what this is?”
“No, Ruth. You’re just meeting consequences.”
“So this is revenge?”
“Revenge would mean taking something from you. I just stopped handing over what’s mine.”
“We’re married. There’s no yours and mine.”
“The law says otherwise. And you know it.”
She stared at me.
“You talked to a lawyer?”
“Wednesday.”
“You filed?”
“No.”
“Will you?”
“I haven’t decided.”
I showed her what I’d organized.
“Dad left this house to me. It’s always been mine. What I saved before we married is all on paper.”
I looked at her.
“And our joint account? I haven’t touched it. I haven’t taken a dollar that’s yours.”
Ruth took a breath.
“It was a joke, Eli.”
“Then explain the joke to me.”
She looked confused.
“What was funny?”
“We’d all had a couple of drinks. Wayne was riding me all night, and Mom—”
“That’s why you said it,” I interrupted. “I asked what was funny.”
She said nothing.
“Was it funny that marrying me was the biggest mistake of your life?”
“Elliot—”
“Was it funny that your family never much liked me to begin with? Or was the funny part that I was supposed to sit there and laugh along?”
“I didn’t think it’d land like that.”
“How else could it land?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For dinner.”
“What about dinner?”
“Don’t do this. Don’t interrogate me.”
“I’m asking if you know what you’re apologizing for.”
Ruth rubbed her forehead.
“Fine. I made you look bad. I’m sorry. What more do you want?”
“An apology isn’t a payment, Ruth. You don’t say the words and the balance goes back to zero.”
I looked at the woman I’d married.