I hung up.
***
That night, after the kids went to sleep, I searched through old emails and my phone.
The deeper I dug, the more I found.
Anonymous messages were traced back to devices connected to my mother's internet account.
Fake screenshots matched editing apps Sarah photographed on my mother's tablet.
Everything was real!
The deeper I dug, the more I found.
I remembered Sarah crying in our bedroom.
I buried my face in my hands and cried harder than I had at her funeral.
Because grief was terrible, but realizing I'd failed my wife while she was still alive felt even worse.
***
Three days later, my mother showed up at the house.
I opened the door halfway and saw that she looked exhausted from crying.
"Please let me explain."
"You already did."
Her expression hardened slightly.
"Your wife turned you against your own family long before I did anything."
That sentence changed everything for me.
"Please let me explain."
For the first time, I finally saw who my mother really was beneath the sweet grandmother act.
She'd never fully approved of Sarah, though she'd hidden it well for years. Losing my father was probably what finally pushed her over the edge.
