Chapter 9 - David Knew Before He Loved Me
During mediation, I finally asked David directly.
“Did you know who I was before the charity gala?”
His face told me before his mouth did.
“Yes.”
“Did your father send you?”
“He asked me to meet you.”
“Why?”
“To see what you knew about the old Mitchell dispute.”
“Did you know about the trust claim?”
“Some of it.”
“Did you ask me out because of my shares?”
“At first?”
I hated the hesitation.
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
Then he looked at me.
“But that changed.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Dad said the old issue didn’t matter if we were married.”
There it was.
Again.
Marriage as solvent.
Marriage as permission.
Marriage as a structure that could make ethical problems disappear.
“Did you ever love me?”
David cried.
“Yes.”
And the worst part was that I believed him.
That did not help.
It made everything uglier.
Love had existed inside the scheme.
He simply never believed loving me required protecting my freedom from his father.
“I thought once you signed, everything would calm down.”
“You brought a bat.”
“I wasn’t going to seriously hurt you.”
“Listen to yourself.”
He looked away.
Then:
“You don’t understand Dad.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“I understand you.”
He believed he had wanted surrender, not violence.
In his mind, violence happened only because surrender had been refused.
That distinction might have comforted him.
May you like
It terrified me.
And it prepared me for the truth that arrived next.
