He swallowed.
“And somehow you believe I abandoned you because I stopped paying your bills?”
He didn’t answer.
I walked toward the kitchen.
Then I stopped.
“Do you know what hurts the most?”
Benjamin looked at me.
“It isn’t the money.”
He frowned.
“It’s that I spent years believing every payment was an act of love.”
My voice cracked.
“And you spent years treating those payments as an obligation.”
Genevieve finally spoke.
“We never asked you to do all of that.”
I turned toward her.
“You’re right.”
She looked surprised.
“You didn’t ask.”
I smiled.
“You expected.”
That was different.
Very different.
I walked back into the living room.
“I paid because Benjamin was my son.”
I looked at him.
“I helped because I loved him.”
Then I looked at Genevieve.
“I paid because I thought helping my family was what good mothers did.”
I paused.
“But somewhere along the
