The admission hurt.
“I wish you had told me.”
“I wish I had known how.”
Those conversations did not excuse what Michael had done.
But they helped us recognize the unresolved feelings beneath the conflict.
Eventually, he began coming to Sunday dinner again.
The first few meals were uncomfortable.
We spoke about the weather, football, road construction, and other safe subjects. Long silences settled between us. Sometimes one of us started a sentence and abandoned it.
Gradually, the conversations became easier.
Jennifer came with him after several months.
She apologized for not recognizing how serious his financial situation had become. Michael had hidden debts, intercepted mail, and assured her everything was under control.
“I should have called you,” she told me.
“You believed your husband.”
“I knew he was angry about the land.”
“Knowing someone is angry and knowing what they’re planning are different things.”
Their children began visiting again, too.
