Chapter 11 - DANIEL'S BEST ARGUMENT
Daniel’s best argument came in counseling.
“I was drowning too.”
Claire stayed silent.
He continued.
“Claire got sick. Work was exploding. The twins were impossible. Mom offered help.”
“Paid help,” Claire said.
“Yes.”
“Without telling me the terms.”
“I didn’t think there were terms.”
The counselor asked:
“What did you think you were paying for?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Childcare. Cooking. Laundry.”
“Decision-making authority?”
“No.”
“Discipline authority?”
Daniel hesitated.
“No.”
“Then when Claire told you about the switch, why didn’t you stop it?”
Long silence.
Daniel finally said:
“Because if I admitted Mom was making it worse, then I had to come home.”
That was it.
Not loyalty.
Not confusion.
Avoidance.
Daniel also had to confront what the money had done psychologically.
Three thousand dollars sounded substantial to him.
Once he paid it, he began thinking:
Mom is responsible.
That thought made it easier to excuse his own absence.
Payment converted a favor into a service.
Then Daniel quietly converted service into substitution.
He had not purchased Margaret’s authority over the children.
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But he behaved as if paying someone else reduced his own.
Margaret’s control had become useful because it let Daniel stay away.
