Silence hung thick in the air. A nurse came around the corner and smiled at Dave and Marsha. “Ella’s awake and the doctor’s finished examining her. She asked to see her son and both of you.” She tipped her head toward Ella’s parents.

Marsha rose with Dave’s help, looking older, more fragile. Probably something else I needed to shoulder the blame for. At the last minute, Marsha turned back and glanced at me. “You want to come in? See her?”

“I don’t want to upset her more. Will you let me know how she looks? If she’s eating? I’m worried. She’s lost weight since Halloween . . .” The last time I spent time with my wife. Halloween. I rolled my head back on my neck.

Philip shoved his feet out in front of him, reminding me he was still in the room, devouring the strange tableau of my family disintegrating.

“Jeremiah?” Dave asked.

“I’ll come in a minute,” he said.

I turned to find his gaze locked on my face as I settled into a chair two down from his. I linked my hands between my knees and waited, trying to brace my heart for the next barrage of anger.

Jeremiah bit his lip and stood, eyes still on me. He crossed over and dropped into the chair next to mine.

“So, you didn’t? Have . . . um, well, you didn’t cheat on Mom?”

I met his eyes, held the look for a long moment before I shook my head once. “No, son. I’d never do that to your mother.”

“She thinks you did. And she’s cried when she goes to bed. She’s upset you haven’t called regularly. That’s been going on for weeks, Dad. And . . . and I heard what Monique said, calling you baby. I saw you kiss her.”

I sighed and closed my eyes briefly, but I opened them again to focus on my son’s face, his own eyes beseeching me not to have let him down.

“I love your mother, Miah,” I said, drawing on the nickname we rarely used. “She—and you, now the baby—are the best things to ever happen to me. Ever.” I kept my gaze firm.

“But you sent her divorce papers. That breaks up our family.”

I shook my head, maintaining the eye contact. “No. I considered it briefly after your mother quit taking my calls when that first photo came out, showing me with Monique.”

Clearly, my dismissing Ella’s concerns out-of-hand had been stupid. But, how could she think I’d ever look at another woman? Why had I thought talking to a lawyer would help smooth over the situation? Why hadn’t I flown home and talked to her?