Sometimes they asked difficult questions about the divorce.
I answered them honestly.
Sometimes they didn’t want to talk at all.
I learned to accept the silence.
I also made changes in my own life.
I asked an independent lawyer to review the old divorce records and Richard’s handling of Marianne’s correspondence.
The review confirmed that he had withheld communications without my explicit instruction.
I removed him from his position as my personal lawyer and referred the matter to the appropriate professional authority.
I also confronted my father.
He denied wrongdoing at first.
Then I showed him the emails.
He admitted that he had wanted to protect the family’s reputation and preserve my marriage to Cordelia.
“You would have lost everything if you had gone back to Marianne,” he said.
I looked at him.
“No. I would have lost the life you wanted for me.”
He shook his head.
“You’re throwing away a future you spent years building.”
