Chapter 5 - DANIEL'S MOTHER CHOSE A SIDE
Daniel’s mother removed the pearl necklace at her throat.
She placed it on the table.
Daniel stared at her.
“What are you doing?”
She reached into her handbag and removed a credit card.
She handed it to the event manager, who had reluctantly returned.
“Charge the remaining balance to me.”
Jennifer immediately spoke.
“No.”
Daniel’s mother looked at her.
“You should not pay.”
“Neither should you.”
His mother’s mouth tightened.
“My son created this humiliation.”
“I can at least make sure the hotel staff gets paid.”
Jennifer understood that.
She nodded once.
The event manager took the card.
Daniel looked furious.
“Mom, stop.”
She turned toward him.
“I spent thirty-five years defending you.”
Daniel blinked.
“What?”
“Every time your father said you were selfish as a teenager, I said you were ambitious.”
“Every time you hurt someone in college, I said you were immature.”
“Every time Jennifer looked tired at family dinner, I told myself marriage was difficult.”
She pointed toward Chloe.
“And now I am looking at another woman holding your child while your wife stands beside the daughter she carried at the same time.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You don’t know the whole story.”
His mother laughed once.
“Apparently nobody does.”
Chloe quietly placed the baby carrier on a nearby chair.
Jennifer looked at the little boy.
Jacob.
He had dark hair.
Daniel’s chin.
Jennifer hated noticing that.
Not because of the baby.
The baby had done nothing wrong.
Neither had Lily.
Jennifer turned toward Chloe.
“When did your relationship with Daniel restart?”
Chloe glanced at him.
He shook his head again.
This time she ignored him.
“Last November.”
Jennifer calculated.
She had become pregnant with Lily in October.
Daniel had learned about the pregnancy five days before Thanksgiving.
His affair with Chloe began less than three weeks later.
Jennifer looked at him.
“You started sleeping with her after I told you I was pregnant.”
Daniel whispered.
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“Actually, that timeline is incredibly simple.”
He stepped closer.
“We were having problems.”
Jennifer stared at him.
“I was vomiting every morning.”
“You said you understood.”
“I did.”
“No.”
“You said the right words.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Chloe looked between them.
“He told me you two had agreed to separate.”
Jennifer almost laughed.
“When?”
Chloe’s face changed.
“What?”
“When did Daniel tell you we agreed to separate?”
“December.”
Jennifer held up her left hand.
Her wedding ring was still there.
“We hosted Christmas together.”
Chloe looked at Daniel.
“He said it was for his parents.”
Jennifer continued.
“We went to Florida in January.”
“He said it was already booked.”
“He posted a photograph kissing me on Valentine’s Day.”
Chloe looked pale.
Daniel snapped.
“Enough.”
Chloe turned on him.
“You told me she knew.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“I told you it was complicated.”
“No.”
“You told me the marriage was over.”
Jennifer watched Chloe carefully.
For the first time, she saw something she had not expected.
Chloe had lied.
But Daniel had lied to Chloe too.
That did not make Chloe innocent.
It made Daniel worse.
Then Chloe said something Jennifer had not expected at all.
“There’s another reason I came.”
Daniel froze.
Chloe looked toward Jennifer.
“I found out this morning where the money for my hospital bill really came from.”
Jennifer’s eyes narrowed.
Chloe swallowed.
May you like
“I think Daniel has been stealing from both of us.”
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