If he created a problem, somehow someone else ended up solving it.
After Eric left, Barbara had stopped contacting me entirely.
I assumed she had chosen her son.
Still, I called.
She answered sounding half asleep.
“Claire?”
My voice broke almost immediately.
“Barbara…”
Her tone changed.
“What’s wrong?”
And then, for the first time, I told her everything.
I didn’t soften the details.
I didn’t defend Eric.
I told her about the savings.
The other woman.
The emergency delivery.
Chloe’s medical expenses.
The phone call.
The things Eric had said.
The visit to his house.
When I finished, there was silence.
So much silence that I checked whether the call had disconnected.
Finally Barbara spoke.
“He told me you left him.”
I sat up.
“What?”
“He said you ended the marriage. He said you didn’t want me around you or the baby.”
For several seconds I could only stare at the wall.
“Barbara, he left me six weeks before Chloe was born.”
Her breathing changed.
Just slightly.
But I heard it.
“I understand.”
Then her voice became unusually calm.
“I’ll be there shortly.”
Before I could tell her not to come, she hung up.
Less than an hour later, someone knocked.
Barbara stood outside wearing a coat over her pajamas, grocery bags hanging from both hands.
She marched straight inside.
She washed her hands.
Then she looked at Chloe.
Her entire expression changed.
She lifted her granddaughter carefully.
“Oh,” she whispered. “Look at you.”
Chloe yawned directly into her face.
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Barbara looked over and smiled briefly.
Then she asked, “Did you get her medication?”
“Not all of it.”
“And Eric refused to pay?”
