Chapter 5
Chapter 5
“Then pack your things and get out of my house,” Gareth sneered.
I nodded slowly, completely prepared for his reaction.
Then Gareth uttered the vicious sentence that would forever ruin his bond with his children. “But if you walk out that door, take all three of them with you.”
Gertrude began laughing out loud beside him, but when Brendan slowly stood up from his chair, the room went dead silent.
“Are you absolute certain about that, Dad?” Brendan asked, looking straight into his father’s eyes. “Because I do not want to hear you complaining later that you did not realize what you were saying.”
Gareth tapped his fingers impatiently against the wooden table. “I already told you not to speak to me with that disrespectful attitude.”
“I am simply asking a clear question,” Brendan replied calmly.
Chloe looked at her father as if he were a complete stranger, while Paige held back her tears with incredible bravery.
Gertrude tried to break the heavy tension with a forced laugh. “Oh, stop making such a massive drama out of this, kids. Your mother wants to walk away, so let her take full financial responsibility for you.”
That heartless comment erased every lingering doubt in my mind, proving that they were using three innocent children as a weapon to punish me. They were callously discarding Brendan, who had sacrificed so much for college, Chloe, who spent hours practicing her clarinet for the school orchestra, and ten-year-old Paige, who walked into Gertrude’s bedroom every single morning with a digital blood pressure monitor.
There was a truth that Gertrude never admitted to anyone, which was that for two entire years, Paige was the person keeping her alive and healthy. Every morning before school, my little daughter would carefully write down Gertrude’s blood pressure numbers in a small notebook, placing her required daily medication next to a fresh glass of water. Whenever the family doctor praised Gertrude for her incredible blood pressure control, Gertrude would arrogantly take all the credit herself without ever mentioning that her young granddaughter was her dedicated primary caregiver.
I did not waste my energy arguing with them that night, simply repeating my firm response. “Okay.”
Over the next few weeks, I followed my lawyer’s advice to the letter, documenting every income stream, asset, and expense meticulously. Gareth remained arrogant, firmly convinced that the reality of single parenthood would bring me crawling back to him.
During our first official mediation meeting in December, the mediator asked, “Mr. Shepherd, do you agree to the divorce terms?”
“Yes, I do,” Gareth answered coldly.
“And what is your proposed arrangement regarding child custody?” the mediator inquired.
Gareth crossed his arms tightly. “They said they wanted to go with her, so all three of them can stay with their mother permanently.”
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Not once did he utter the names Brendan, Chloe, or Paige, referring to them only as a collective burden.
When the subject of child support was raised, Gareth sneered, “I am not paying a single cent of child support because she chose to break up this family.”
