Chapter 5 - Cleaning House
The next two hours were a whirlwind of frantic activity. Lydia was on her phone in the hallway, her voice shaking as she liquidated mutual funds and made emergency calls to real estate associates to secure an immediate temporary lease on a three-bedroom furnished unit in the Pearl District. She didn't dare challenge Owen's deadline. When an experienced structural engineer and a senior corporate litigator give you a boundary, you don't test the edges.
Inside the condo, Owen took June and Sadie down to the private marina to feed the ducks and watch the sailboats, sparing them the sight of the chaos. Meanwhile, Leah and I stood in the kitchen, packing away the loose items Daniel's boys had unpacked.
""Mara... I am so, so sorry,"" Leah whispered, handing me my dried lavender stems, which she had carefully tried to smooth out. Her eyes were red and swollen. ""If I had known for a second that Lydia was doing this behind your back, I never would have let Daniel set foot across that threshold. We thought you were blessing us. We thought... we thought you finally saw us.""
I looked at my sister-in-law. Leah had always been a quiet, hard-working woman who came from a modest background. She loved Daniel, and she adored her boys. ""It's not your fault, Leah. Lydia has spent thirty years convincing everyone that she is the only person in this family capable of doing good things. She manufactured a crisis so she could play the savior while robbing me blind.""
""What your mother said on the phone..."" Leah hesitated, looking down at the counter. ""It was horrible, Mara. She really didn't know you were married?""
""She never bothered to ask,"" I replied honestly. ""Every time I called home over the past eight years, the conversation was exclusively about Lydia's commissions or how Daniel needed money. When I tried to tell Mom that I met someone wonderful, she cut me off to complain about her roof repairs. When Owen proposed, I bought two plane tickets to fly them up to Seattle to meet him. Mom canceled the day before because Lydia had an open house and needed Mom to babysit her dog. Eventually, I realized that sharing my joy with them was like pouring water into a cracked jar. It just drained away. So I stopped pouring.""
Daniel walked in carrying a heavy box of kitchen supplies, his posture defeated. He set the box down and looked at me with profound shame. ""Mara... how could you ever forgive me for this?""
""I don't blame you for being tricked, Daniel,"" I said, looking him in the eye. ""Lydia is a master manipulator. But I do blame you for never picking up the phone to ask me yourself. Did you really think I would give away a three-hundred-and-forty-thousand-dollar asset without even sending you a text?""
Daniel flinched. ""She told me you were too embarrassed to talk to me. She told me you felt guilty for being successful while I was struggling, and that going through her was the only way your ego could handle it.""
I let out a bitter, disbelieving laugh. ""Of course she did. She had to isolate us from each other so we wouldn't compare notes. That’s how she’s always operated.""
Outside, the rumbling sound of a professional moving van pulled into the circular driveway below. Lydia walked back into the unit, her face blotchy and haggard, holding a printed receipt from her phone.
""It's done,"" Lydia muttered, avoiding my gaze. ""I signed the lease for a three-bedroom unit in Portland. Paid six months in advance. The moving crew is downstairs right now to load Daniel's furniture. Are you happy now?""
May you like
""Not yet,"" I replied, pulling a crisp, two-page legal document from my laptop bag, which I had drafted on my iPad while she was making calls. ""Sign this. Both pages. In front of Daniel and Leah as witnesses.""
Lydia looked at the title of the document: Affidavit of Confession and Voluntary Relinquishment of Claims. Her hands shook violently as she picked up the pen, but she didn't hesitate. She knew that the alternative was a pair of handcuffs and a ruined life. She scribbled her name at the bottom, sealing her own defeat.
