Margaret reached across the table.
“You were in love.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Did Lily know Vanessa wanted to send her away?”
“I don’t know how much she understood.”
Michael thought of the recording.
Your father chose me.
He cannot spend the rest of his life choosing you first.
The boarding school was no longer an abstract possibility.
It had a name.
A tuition schedule.
An admissions email.
And Vanessa had been planning it without him.
That afternoon, Michael called Vanessa.
It was their first direct conversation since the wedding.
She answered on the second ring.
“Michael.”
“Ridgemont Academy.”
Silence.
That told him everything.
“How did you find out?”
He closed his eyes.
Not What are you talking about?
How did you find out?
“So it’s true.”
“I was researching options.”
“You contacted admissions.”
“That is research.”
“You said I supported it.”
“You said Lily needed more structure.”
“I meant a bedtime.”
Vanessa exhaled sharply.
“Michael, she is overly dependent on you.”
“She is seven.”
“She sleeps in your room during storms.”
“She’s afraid of thunder.”
“She interrupts adult conversations.”
“So do you.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Vanessa’s voice hardened.
“Ridgemont is one of the best schools in the country.”
“I don’t care if it’s Hogwarts.”
“She would have opportunities.”
“She has a school.”
“She needs independence.”
“You wanted her gone.”
“That’s unfair.”
“You planned to send my daughter a thousand miles away after marrying me.”
“I planned to discuss it.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
Michael laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Why after?”
“Because you would react exactly like this.”
“So your plan was to become my wife first.”
Silence.
Michael continued.
“Then start an adoption.”
“That would have given us options.”
“You told the school I supported it.”
“I knew eventually you would understand.”
“No.”
His voice became very calm.
“You believed eventually I would be legally and emotionally entangled enough that saying no would be harder.”
Vanessa did not respond.
Michael understood another thing.
“Was the adoption about Lily?”
“Of course.”
“Or did you need parental authority to enroll her?”
“Michael.”
“That’s what the email said.”
“You are turning everything into something sinister.”