PART NINE: WHEN HE CAME HOME
Ethan returned eleven days later.
He came home early, but not because he missed us.
The resort had become uncomfortable after his story spread among our relatives and mutual friends. He told me people were “judging him without understanding the pressure he was under.”
He arrived at Megan’s house carrying flowers.
He had shaved, dressed carefully, and prepared a speech.
“I made a mistake,” he said.
I stood in the doorway while Megan remained in the kitchen.
“What was the mistake?” I asked.
“The trip.”
“Why?”
“Because you were overwhelmed.”
“That is not an answer.”
He frowned.
“I said I was sorry.”
“You are sorry that I left. You are sorry your mother found out. You are sorry people are judging you. Are you sorry that you watched me physically fall apart and decided your comfort mattered more?”
He looked away.
“I didn’t realize how bad it was.”
“I told you.”
“You were emotional.”
“I was recovering from surgery.”
“I had work.”
“You had paid family leave available.”
He went still.
That was one of the details he had hoped I had forgotten.
Ethan’s company offered six weeks of paid parental leave.
He had chosen not to use it because he believed taking leave would make him look less committed than his colleagues.
He had not been forced to abandon us.
He had protected his image at work and sacrificed me instead.
“I can take the leave now,” he said.
The timing made me laugh bitterly.
“Now that there are witnesses?”
His face tightened.
“What do you want from me, Claire?”
“I wanted a partner.”
“I can be one.”
“You had six weeks to be one.”
He looked toward the living room, where the babies were sleeping.
“I’m their father.”
“Yes. And you will have the opportunity to act like one.”
His expression shifted.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I spoke to an attorney.”
The color drained from his face.
“You’re divorcing me over one vacation?”
“No. I’m considering divorce because the vacation revealed what the previous six weeks had already shown me.”
He stared at me.
I continued before he could interrupt.
“I will not return home immediately. You can visit the babies here. You will learn their feeding schedules, medications, and routines. You will attend counseling. You will take parental leave. You will care for them without handing them back the moment they cry.”
“And if I don’t agree?”
“Then we let the attorneys handle everything.”
For the first time since the babies came home, Ethan understood that I was not asking.
