Chapter 6 - MICHAEL RETURNSMichael came back on the third day.
Alone.
No attorney.
No Vanessa.
Eleanor agreed to see him in the downstairs library, not the bedroom.
He looked older.
“Vanessa left.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“She went to her sister’s.”
Still nothing.
“She’s cooperating with Lydia.”
“I know.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“Of course you do.”
Eleanor waited.
Finally:
“I moved the money.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I could put it back.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t plan the conservatorship at first.”
“But you did plan it.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Eleanor’s voice remained steady.
“Why did you watch?”
Michael looked up.
“Watch what?”
“Her cut my hair.”
He started crying.
Not immediately useful.
Eleanor waited.
“I was scared.”
“Of Vanessa?”
“Of losing everything.”
There it was.
Not fear of his wife.
Fear of consequence.
“I thought if you signed, it would all stop.”
Eleanor nodded.
“So you decided I should pay.”
Michael couldn’t answer.
She continued.
“I don’t need you to say you love me.”
He looked surprised.
May you like
“I need you to understand why love did not stop you.”
That question followed him for years.
