Chapter 9
David didn’t call that night.
He didn’t text. He didn’t show up at Rachel’s house. He didn’t even ask about Mia.
The silence hurt more than I expected.
Part of me had hoped — even after everything — that he would at least check on his daughter. That he would realize how badly he had messed up and try to make it right.
But the hours passed, and my phone stayed quiet.
Around 10 a.m. the next morning, Rachel’s phone rang. It was David.
She looked at me before answering.
“Do you want to talk to him?” she asked.
I hesitated, then nodded.
Rachel handed me the phone.
“David,” I said.
There was a long pause on the other end.
Then his voice came through, low and tired.
“Julia… we need to talk.”
I almost laughed.
“Now you want to talk?” I said. “After you hit me in front of two hundred people and chose your mother over your own daughter?”
He was quiet for a moment.
“I lost my temper,” he finally said. “I shouldn’t have done that. But you were causing a scene. You called a lawyer in the middle of Rachel’s wedding. What did you expect me to do?”
I closed my eyes.
Even now, he was trying to make it my fault.
“I expected you to defend your daughter,” I said. “I expected you to tell your mother that what she did was wrong. Instead, you hit me.”
David sighed.
“Look, I’m sorry about the slap. I really am. But we can’t just throw away eight years of marriage over one bad night. We have Mia to think about.”
I felt something inside me harden.
“Don’t you dare use Mia as an excuse,” I said. “You didn’t think about Mia when you let your mother hurt her. You didn’t think about Mia when you hit me. You only thought about protecting your mother’s feelings.”
David’s voice turned sharper.
“My mother was humiliated. You know how important appearances are to her. You made her look bad in front of everyone.”
I let out a short, bitter laugh.
“So that’s what this is about? Appearances? Not the fact that your mother assaulted our child? Not the fact that you assaulted your wife?”
There was silence on the other end.
Then David said something that confirmed everything I already knew.
“If you go through with this divorce, you’re going to regret it. My mother will make sure of it.”
I felt cold.
There it was.
Even now, he was threatening me with his mother.
I took a deep breath and said the words I should have said years ago.
“Then let her try. Because I’m done being afraid of Margaret. And I’m done being married to a man who cares more about his mother’s reputation than his own family.”
I hung up before he could respond.
My hands were shaking, but my mind was clear.
David wasn’t going to apologize.
Not really.
He was only going to try to control the damage.
May you like
And I was no longer interested in damage control.
I was interested in freedom.
