Chapter 20 - Daniel files for separation
Daniel did not file for divorce the week of the birthday.
People expected him to.
He didn’t.
He and Rachel had an eight-year-old son.
A mortgage.
Eleven years.
Love, somewhere beneath the wreckage.
They separated.
Rachel moved into an apartment.
Noah stayed primarily with Daniel initially under an agreed temporary plan, with substantial parenting time for Rachel.
Why not remove her from Noah?
Because she had not harmed Noah physically.
She had behaved terribly toward me and committed financial deception involving Daniel.
Those facts mattered.
They did not automatically make her unsafe as a mother.
Family court reviewed the situation.
Noah received counseling because he had witnessed the assault and had become entangled in adult financial conflict.
Rachel was specifically ordered not to question him about what he told Daniel or police.
She followed that.
Good.
Daniel and Rachel tried marital counseling for eight months.
Some things improved.
One thing did not.
Daniel asked:
“If Noah had not called me, would you have told me about the one-twenty after Rebecca signed?”
Rachel answered:
May you like
“I don’t know.”
That answer ended something.
