Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Would Not Apologize
I met my mother on Sunday morning in the garden of her church.
She arrived dressed as though she expected a photographer, with perfect hair and a pearl necklace I had given her for Mother's Day.
She kissed the air beside my cheek.
"The family needs to come together," she said.
"The family needs to stop signing my name."
Her mouth tightened.
"Your father has made mistakes."
"And you've made choices."
Diane glanced toward the church doors.
She did not want anyone overhearing us.
For the first time I found that useful.
"Why did you ask Natalie to get close to Eric?"
She paused, just long enough to confirm the message was real.
"Your husband had influence over your decisions."
"So you used him to get to me."
"You stopped listening to us."
"I stopped paying for debts no one would explain."
She looked as though I had insulted a sacred principle.
"Your sister needed help."
"Natalie was being paid by Richard."
"That was work."
"Sleeping with Eric was work too?"
My mother's face flushed.
"Don't be vulgar."
I had to look away to keep from laughing.
The woman who had watched my sister announce an affair in front of three hundred guests could still find the word sleeping offensive.
I asked whether she knew Natalie had been seeing Richard.
"People make mistakes," she replied.
I felt something final settle inside me.
My mother did know, and she had decided the knowledge did not matter if the arrangement protected her finances.
"Did you know about the report excluding Eric?"
"Richard said the test could be challenged."
There it was.
She knew about the report too.
I let the silence grow.
Diane reached for my wrist.
"Natalie is pregnant, Vanessa. She can't handle this stress."
"Then she should have stayed away from the microphone."
My mother withdrew her hand.
"You can be cruel when you want to."
"No," I said. "I've spent most of my life preventing other people from facing consequences. I'm done confusing that with kindness."
Back at Maya's office, I recorded an accurate account of the conversation while it was fresh in my memory.
Maya reminded me that my recollection would not replace direct evidence.
We had enough direct evidence to focus on anyway.
A bank employee had verified that the signature on the disputed wire authorization did not match the digital authentication record for my account.
The origin device belonged to a computer maintained by Richard's firm.
The bank continued its investigation, but the finding strengthened our request for protective relief.
Leah brought copies of the fraudulent repayment notices.
Each included a footer claiming approval by the foundation's compliance committee.
We did not have a compliance committee.
One notice used a template from a document Natalie had once prepared during a volunteer event.
At 4:30 p.m., Maya called me into her office.
"The judge has set an emergency hearing for Tuesday," she said.
I finally felt the floor beneath me again.
Then she added a second sentence.
May you like
"Richard has filed a response, and he's attached what he calls your psychiatric evaluation."
