Chapter 15 - The Lowest Point
For two weeks, Emma barely spoke to Nathan.
Not because of Olivia.
Not because of Douglas.
Because the recovered messages confirmed something worse.
Emma’s loneliness had not been accidental.
Whitmore’s corporate machinery had benefited from Nathan behaving as if he had no private life.
Olivia had stepped into the empty space.
Douglas had encouraged it.
Nathan had allowed it.
Emma looked at Isabel sleeping beside her and felt a new fear.
What happened when Isabel became inconvenient too?
A school play during a merger.
A fever during an earnings call.
A birthday during an overseas acquisition.
People changed.
Systems rarely did.
Nathan called one evening.
Emma answered.
“I’ve been looking at apartments in Newport.”
Her chest tightened.
“Why?”
“So I can be close without staying with you.”
“You don’t have to move here.”
“I know.”
“You resigned.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to keep proving anything.”
“I’m not proving it.”
Nathan paused.
“I want to know my daughter.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“And if we divorce?”
“I still want to know my daughter.”
“And if I never come back to New York?”
“I’ll buy more raincoats.”
Despite herself, Emma smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I spoke to a lawyer.”
Nathan was quiet.
“Okay.”
“I asked her to draft separation papers.”
His breathing changed.
Emma pressed on before courage failed.
“I need the legal structure.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t know whether I’ll file.”
“I understand.”
“But I need to know I can.”
Nathan said nothing for several seconds.
Then, very quietly, “Send them.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“You’re not going to fight?”
“If there’s something unfair regarding Isabel, we’ll discuss it.”
“And the marriage?”
Nathan swallowed.
“I already fought for the marriage in all the wrong ways.”
“I chased you.”
“I called everyone.”
“I treated your leaving like a problem to reverse.”
His voice broke.
“I won’t turn your freedom into another negotiation.”
Emma cried silently.
“I hate that you learned all this after I left.”
“So do I.”
“I hate that part of me still loves you.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“I don’t hate that.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because it would be easier if I felt nothing.”
Nathan sat down on the edge of his temporary bed.
“I don’t want your love if it costs you yourself again.”
Emma pressed a hand against her mouth.
For years she had wanted Nathan to fight for her.
Now the hardest thing he could do was refuse to fight against her.
The separation agreement arrived two days later.
Nathan signed every page.
No hidden amendments.
No pressure.
No threats.
Emma stared at his signature.
Then she put the papers in a drawer.
May you like
She did not file them.
Not yet.
