Their messages went back almost a year.
At first, they were exactly what you would expect from a secret relationship.
Hotels.
Private jokes.
Photos.
Complaints about Victor.
But after his surgery was scheduled, the conversations changed.
They began discussing his recovery.
His finances.
Competency evaluations.
And the possible value of his Halberd shares.
One message suggested that if Victor experienced a major setback after surgery, people might assume it was simply part of his recovery.
I looked at my stepfather.
He closed his eyes.
For most of my adult life, I had made excuses for my mother.
She could be demanding.
Materialistic.
Obsessed with appearances.
But she was also the woman who attended my college graduation.
The woman who sent soup when I was sick.
The woman who once drove through a snowstorm after I had an accident in Indiana.
That was what made everything so difficult.
People are easier to understand when they are completely good or completely terrible.
Real people rarely are.
My mother had always been a mixture of contradictions.
I simply hadn’t realized how far some of them could go.
