Podczas kolacji mój syn powiedział: „Nie zawstydzaj nas więcej”, i przy stole zapadła cisza, więc wstałem, otworzyłem SMS-a, którego jego żona niechcący wysłała mi poprzedniego wieczoru, i czytałem na głos każdą linijkę, aż jej uśmiech zniknął, a ręce zaczęły drżeć. Wiadomość wcale nie była skierowana do mnie, tylko do imienia, o którym myślała, że ​​nigdy nie zostanie wspomniane w tym domu… ​​aż do następnego zdania, które miałem właśnie przeczytać.

“Just curious. I want to know what my sister-in-law is up to.”

“Your curiosity sometimes crosses the line,” Evelyn said coldly. “I don’t have to report to you every day at work.”

“Of course you don’t, but it’s strange that a simple question about the name of the company provokes such a reaction.”

The atmosphere at the table began to heat up. Rufus crumpled his napkin nervously, and Evelyn looked at me with ill-concealed hostility.

“Dad, what’s wrong with you today?” Rufus put down his fork. “You’re acting weird. You’re interrogating your wife over nothing.”

Over nothing? I just want to know the truth about what’s going on in my house.

“Your house? Son?” Evelyn grinned. “That’s an interesting way of putting it. We all live here together. It’s our home together.”

“It’s in my name, and I have a right to know what goes on in it.”

Rufus turned red. He hated it when the question of homeownership came up in conversation. It hurt his pride. Reminded him of his financial dependence on his father.

“Dad, stop it. You’re acting like a landlord checking out tenants. We’re your family, not tenants.”

Family. I put my fork down and looked at my son.

“Family doesn’t steal from each other. Family doesn’t lie and make plans to get rid of inconvenient relatives.”

Evelyn turned pale. Fear flashed in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, trying to keep her tone calm.

about missing things, about your meetings, not with clients, but with your lover, about your plans to send me to a nursing home.

Rufus stared at me and at his wife in confusion.

“Dad, what are you talking about? What missing things? What lover?”

I pulled out my phone and opened Evelyn’s correspondence with Dominic.

“You want to know what your wife really did tonight? Listen to me.”

“Don’t you dare.” Evelyn jumped up from the table, but I’d already started reading.

My darling, I can’t sleep thinking of you. That dinner was unbearable. The old boar has been cooking his bland food and telling boring stories again.

Rufus froze with his mouth open. Evelyn tried to snatch the phone from me, but I pulled my hand away.

My baby, I’ve already sold a few more of his things online. The antique clock went for $200 in the toolkit for $150. He didn’t even notice it was missing.

“That’s not true,” Evelyn shouted. “Where did you get that from? You forg the correspondence?”

Honey, I found something else interesting in his room. A collection of stamps in an album. The antique dealer said some of the pieces are quite valuable.

Rufus slowly turned to his wife. His face was white as chalk.

“Evelyn, is it true?”

“Of course it isn’t. He’s making it up. Rufus, you know how suspicious he’s been lately. It must be the mental changes of age.”

I continued reading.

The house will have to be sold, of course, when the old man goes to the alms house. But we can buy something smaller just for the two of us. Rufus won’t mind it. His father will be looked after and we’ll have our freedom.

“Enough.” Rufus pounded his fist on the table. “Dad, stop this play.”

But I could see the doubt in his eyes. Too many details in the correspondence match reality.

What if your husband finds out about us? Rufus? He has no idea about anything. He thinks I’m working late on projects. So gullible, just like a child.

Rufus turned even paler. Evelyn backed up against the wall.

“That’s a vile lie. Rufus, don’t listen to him. He’s trying to make us fight.”

“One last thing,” I said calmly. “We have a meeting tomorrow at the Oak Street Cafe. Come later. I don’t want anyone I know to see.”

I looked at Evelyn.

“How was the meeting with the client at the company office?”

Evelyn was silent, breathing heavily. Rufus looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

“Ev, tell me it’s not true,” she remained silent. “Say it!” Roffus shouted.

“Roffus, I can explain everything.”

“So it is true.” His son’s voice trembled. “Are you really stealing my father’s things? Are you seeing your lover? Planning to put dad in a nursing home?”

Eivelyn lowered her head.

Rufus slowly stood up from the table, his face contorted with anger and pain.

“How could you? How could you do this to us?”

“Rufus, listen to me.”

“No.” He swung his hand. “For 3 years, you’ve made me think Daddy was becoming unbearable, that he was losing things, that he was hard to live with. And the truth is,” Rufus turned to me. There were tears in his eyes. “Dad, I’m sorry. I should have known. I should have protected you.”

The silence in the dining room lasted for several minutes. Evelyn stood against the wall, her face pale and her eyes darting from me to Rufus. My son sat at the table, resting his head on his hands. His shoulders were shaking. I calmly finished my coffee, watching their reactions. For 3 years, I’d been a problem for them to tolerate. Now they were the problem.

“Roffus.” Evelyn finally broke the silence. Her voice was quiet, pleading. “Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think.”

My son raised his head. His eyes were red. His face drained. In a matter of minutes, he had age years.

“Not what I think. E, I heard you. Dad read your correspondence. You stole his stuff. You were seeing another man. You wanted to get rid of my dad.”

“Yes, but you don’t understand the conditions I had to live in.” Evelyn’s voice became hysterical. “For 3 years, I tolerated his presence in our house. He interfered in our lives, criticized me, made me feel like an outsider in my own family.”

I put the cup on the saucer and looked calmly at my sister-in-law.

“I never criticized you, Evelyn. On the contrary, I tried to help around the house, cooking, cleaning, and you’ve been looking for a reason to complain from the start.”

“Help?” She laughed bitterly. “You controlled our every move, interfering in our conversations, giving unsolicited advice. I felt like I was living under supervision, not a family.”

Rufus was silent, shifting his gaze from his wife to his father. There was a look of confusion in his eyes as he realized that he had been living in a world of illusion for years.

“What about stealing?” he asked quietly. “How can you justify stealing?”

Evelyn lowered her eyes.

“I didn’t consider it stealing. Those things were just lying around. Barnaby didn’t even remember them. And we needed money for uh expenses.”

“Restaurants with my lover,” I added dryly. “I’ve seen your financial records, Evelyn. Every dollar you got from selling my stuff, you spent on fun with Dominic.”

She flinched when she heard her lover’s name.

“How did you know his name?”

“From your correspondence. Interesting man, by the way. Works for your company. divorce two kids. He plans to marry you as soon as you divorce Rufus.”

Rufus got up from the table abruptly.

“What? E, you were going to divorce me?”

Evelyn remained silent, looking at the floor, her silence was more eloquent than any words.

“Answer me,” Rufus shouted.

“Yes.” She raised her head, anger flaring in her eyes. “Yes, I wanted a divorce because our marriage had become a nightmare. Your father ruined our family.”

“My father?” Rufus shook his head. “Ev, we ruined our family. You did. You lied. You stole. You cheated. And you dare blame dad?”

“He made me do it.” Evelyn pointed her finger at me. “If he hadn’t moved in with us, none of this would have happened.”

I got up from the table and went to the window. Behind the glass was a dark street lit by street lights. A quiet neighborhood where decent people lived. I wondered what the neighbors would think if they heard this conversation.

“Evelyn,” I said without turning around. “I moved into this house at your family’s invitation. I sold my house and gave you the money to help with the mortgage. For 3 years, I cooked, cleaned, helped out around the house, and in return, I got lies and theft and plans to get rid of me.”

I turned to her. “But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that you turned my son against me, made him think I was a problem to be tolerated, destroyed the father-son relationship.”

Rufus sank back into his chair.

“Dad’s right, Ev. You did turn me against him, always complaining about his behavior, finding faults in his every move. And I listened and agreed.”

“Because you love me,” Evelyn exclaimed. “Or did. And you wanted me to be comfortable in our home.”

“Our home?” I grinned. “The house is registered to me, Evelyn. Technically, you’re guest here, but I never reminded you of that until you started making plans to sell my place.”

Evelyn sat back in her chair and covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook, but I wasn’t sure she was crying out of remorse, more like anger and frustration over the failure of the plans.

“What’s going to happen now?” Rufus asked, his voice was tired, devastated.

“It depends on your decisions,” I said calmly. “and mine.”

I went into the living room, pulled the file from the desk, and returned to the dining room. Evelyn looked up, her eyes red.

“These are the deeds to the house,” I said, placing the folder on the table. “The certificate of ownership, the deed, the deed of sale, the certificates of no incumbrances. I own the house outright.”

Rufus nodded. He knew that, but now the fact of ownership took on a new meaning.

“I also have a print out of your financial records, Evelyn. Income from the sale of unnecessary items and the corresponding restaurant expenses and of course correspondence with Dominic.”

Evelyn turned even paler.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Nothing for now, but I want you to understand I have evidence of theft and adultery in case I need to defend myself in court.”

Rufus flinched.

“In court? Dad? You want to sue us?”

“Not you. Her?” I nodded toward Evelyn. “If she tries to claim the property in the divorce or accuse me of anything, I’ll have something to answer for.”

“Divorce?” Rufus looked at his wife. “Ev, do you really want a divorce?”

Evelyn was silent for a long time. Then she raised her head and looked her husband in the eye.

“Yes. Our marriage is over, Rufus. Maybe it’s been over for a long time. We just didn’t want to admit it.”

My son nodded. in his movement was the doom of a man who had finally realized the inevitability of loss.

“Good. Then I have some decisions to make, too.”

I walked back to the table and sat down in my seat.

“One, Evelyn leaves this house immediately today.”

„Co?” Podskoczyła. „Nie możesz mnie wyrzucić. Mam prawa.”

„Jakie prawa?” – zapytałem spokojnie. „Prawa złodzieja i oszusta. Już nie mieszkasz w moim domu”.

„Roffus” – zwróciła się do męża. „Powiedz mu coś”.

Rufus milczał, wpatrując się w stół.

„Roffus, jestem twoją żoną. Nadal twoją żoną?”

„Nadal twoją żoną?” I powiedział cicho: „Ale nie na długo”.

„Po drugie” – kontynuowałem – „wszystkie skradzione przedmioty muszą zostać zwrócone lub wypłacone odszkodowanie. Mam listę zaginionych przedmiotów i przybliżoną wartość każdego z nich”.

Wyciągnąłem z teczki kartkę z listą skradzionych rzeczy. Łączna kwota to około 2000 dolarów. Niewielka cena za trzy lata kradzieży.

Evelyn chwyciła kartkę i przebiegła wzrokiem linijki.

„To za drogo. Antyczny zegarek nie był wart 200 dolarów”.

„Tak” – powiedziałem stanowczo. „Był wart więcej. To był zegarek kieszonkowy mojego dziadka z siedemnastego roku. Przedmiot kolekcjonerski”.

„Nie mam takich pieniędzy.”

„W takim razie będziesz musiał zapytać Dominica albo znaleźć drugą pracę.”

Rufus spojrzał w górę.

„Tato, a co ze mną? Czy ja też muszę się wyprowadzić?”

Spojrzałem na mojego syna. W ciągu ostatniej pół godziny zmienił się z pewnego siebie, rodzinnego człowieka w zagubionego mężczyznę, który nie wiedział, co robić dalej.

„Jesteś moim synem i możesz zostać, jeśli chcesz.”

„A co jeśli będę chciał wyjechać z żoną?”

„To twój wybór, ale pamiętaj, dom nadal należy do mnie. A jeśli odejdziesz, odejdziesz bez prawa do nieruchomości”.

Rufus skinął głową. Wiedział, o co mi chodzi. Nie ma prawa do spadku po tym, jak poparł żonę przeciwko jej ojcu.

Evelyn wstała i ruszyła w stronę schodów.

„Idę spakować swoje rzeczy.”

„Tylko twoje rzeczy” – powiedziałem. „Ach, i żadnej z tych rzeczy, które kupiłeś za pieniądze ze sprzedaży mojego majątku”.

Zatrzymała się i odwróciła.

„Skąd wiesz, co kupiłem?”

„Dokumenty finansowe, pamiętasz? Sukienki, biżuteria, kosmetyki. Wszystko to zostało w domu jako rekompensata za szkody.”

„Nie możesz zabrać moich rzeczy osobistych.”

„Mogę, jeśli kupiono je za kradzione pieniądze, ale nie jestem sadystą. Evelyn, zabierz ubrania i kosmetyki, ale biżuterię zostaw.”

Chciała coś powiedzieć, ale Rufus ją powstrzymał.

„E, po prostu spakuj swoje rzeczy. Nie pogarszaj sytuacji.”

Evelyn poszła na górę. Wkrótce z góry dobiegły dźwięki: otwieranie i zamykanie szafek, coś spadające na podłogę. Pakowała swoje życie do walizek.

Rufus i ja siedzieliśmy przy stole w milczeniu. Kolacja stygła, ale nikt nie myślał o jedzeniu.

„Tato” – powiedział w końcu mój syn – „przepraszam. Powinienem był zająć się tą sytuacją wcześniej, przecież kochałeś swoją żonę i jej ufałeś. Nie ma w tym nic złego. Ale ja nie ufałem tobie, mojemu ojcu”.

Wzruszyłem ramionami. Evelyn umiejętnie manipulowała naszym związkiem. Wiedziała, które przyciski nacisnąć. Co się teraz stanie z nami, z naszą rodziną.

Spojrzałem na syna. W jego oczach był ból, ale i nadzieja. Chciał napisać o krzywdach, żeby odbudować relację.

“It’s up to you, Rufus. If you really understand what happened and are willing to change your behavior, we can try to start over. And if I decide to leave with Evelyn, then that would be your choice. But the final one?”

Rufus nodded, realizing the seriousness of my words.

There was a rumble from upstairs as Evelyn dropped her suitcase. Then I heard her footsteps on the stairs. She came down with two large bags and a wheeled suitcase.

“I packed my thing,” she said without looking at me or her husband.

“Where are you going?” Rufus asked.

“To Dominic’s. He knows about the situation.”

Of course he does. Surely they discussed what would happen if their affair were discovered. They just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly and in such detail.

“Evelyn,” I said as she headed for the exit. “Don’t forget the compensation. You have a month to pay back the money for the stolen items.”

She turned around. There was anger in her eyes.

“And if I don’t?”

“then I’ll go to the police. I have all the evidence of the theft.”

Evelyn left the house, slamming the door. A few minutes later, the sound of a car starting up came from the yard. Then silence.

Rufus sat with his head down.

“It’s over,” he said quietly.

“No,” I said. “The lies are over. The truth is just beginning.”

My son raised his eyes and looked at me. For the first time in months, there was no alienation or irritation in his gaze. Just tiredness and a desire to figure out what to do next.

“Would you like some coffee?” I asked.

He nodded.

I got up and went to the kitchen to put water on. It had been a hard day, but justice had been done. Now I had to decide how to move on with my life.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual. The house was unusually quiet. No footsteps from Evelyn on the second floor. No haird dryer running. No sound of her voice. For the first time in 3 years, I felt like the house belonged to me again.

Rufus was still asleep, and I decided not to wake him. Yesterday had been an ordeal for him. I made coffee and sat at the kitchen table with a notebook. I had to make a plan of action.

Evelyn had left the house, but that was only the beginning. There were a lot of practical matters to deal with from changing the locks to finalizing my son’s divorce. The first thing I did was to call a locksmith and arranged for the locks to be changed. Evelyn had keys to the house and I didn’t want her to be able to return without permission. The locksmith agreed to come in an hour.

Then I contacted a lawyer I knew from my days as a foreman. Dimmitri Shephard specialized in family disputes and real estate matters. I explained the situation and asked to see him.

“Barnaby, this is a serious case. And the lawyer said, “If you have evidence of the theft in correspondence about the real estate fraud plans, we can build a strong case.””

“I don’t need to punish her,” I replied. “I just want to protect myself and my son from possible claims.”

„Rozumiem. Spotkajmy się jutro, przejrzę dokumenty i przedstawię rekomendacje”.

Rufus zszedł na dół około 9:00 rano. Miał zaczerwienione oczy. Twarz miał zmatowioną. Prawdopodobnie nie spał zbyt wiele w nocy.

„Dzień dobry, tato.”

„Dzień dobry, synu. W ekspresie jest kawa.”

Nalał sobie filiżankę i usiadł naprzeciwko mnie.

„Całą noc rozmyślałem o tym, co się wydarzyło, próbując pojąć, jak mogłem się tak pomylić co do kogoś”.

„Miłość często cię zaślepia” – powiedziałem cicho. „Nie jesteś pierwszą ani ostatnią osobą, która źle ocenia partnera”.

„Ale nie myliłem się tylko co do Evelyn. Myliłem się co do ciebie. Uważałem, że jesteś obciążeniem, zamiast przyjrzeć się sytuacji”.

Zadzwonił dzwonek do drzwi. To był ślusarz. Poszedłem otworzyć, a Rufus został w kuchni. Wymiana zamków zajęła około godziny. Ślusarz zamontował nowe zasuwy w drzwiach wejściowych i tylnych oraz wymienił zamek w garażu. Rufus w milczeniu obserwował pracę, zdając sobie sprawę z symbolicznego znaczenia tego, co się działo. Dom w końcu zbliżał się do Evelyn.

Po wyjściu ślusarza wróciliśmy do kuchni. Rufus wyglądał na zamyślonego.

„Tato, co jeśli Evelyn spróbuje odzyskać swoją część domu na drodze sądowej?”

„Ona nie ma udziału w tym domu” – odpowiedziałem spokojnie. „Dom jest na moje nazwisko. Hipoteka jest na moje nazwisko. Evelyn nigdy nie była jego właścicielką”.

„Nie wiem. Ale może powiedzieć, że zainwestowała pieniądze w naprawy i ulepszenia.”

„Może, ale mam dokumentację, że wszystkie większe wydatki zostały pobrane z moich kont. Jej wkład był minimalny”.

Rufus skinął głową, ale widziałem, że coś go dręczy.