I stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, the afternoon sunlight fell across the garden. The grass needed cutting, and one of the flowerbeds was full of weeds. Ethan had promised to help me with it when he came home for the holidays.
I thought about our children.
They deserved to know what was happening, but they did not deserve to become weapons in a fight between their parents.
“I will tell Ethan and Olivia the truth,” I said. “Not every painful detail, and not in a way that asks them to choose sides. They are adults, and they deserve honesty.”
Tyler nodded slowly.
“And what happens to us?”
I turned toward him.
“I don’t know yet.”
His expression crumpled.
“Debra—”
“But I do know this. I will not pretend everything is normal to protect you from the consequences of your decisions.”
He lowered his head.
For the first time in eighteen years, I did not reach across the table to comfort him.
