The weeks that followed were a series of mostly monotonous days, but interspersed with occasional pleasures. I returned to running; I'd added six pounds gallivanting around Boston. Paths abound along the Potomac River. It was April, a beautiful time in Washington, D.C.
An evening telephone conversation with Paul was my daily highlight, and only slightly less frequently, calls from my sister. We talked about expanding Karen's horizons. While I sensed reluctance on Paul's part to release this young lady whom he continued to think of as a child, he understood the need to do so.
As Suzie and I continued to talk, we drifted back to our old comfort level and our nightly conversations grew longer and more thoughtful. Suzie asked about my college experience and I detected envy in her tone. She'd always planned to seek higher education but marriage and family interfered.
Suzie and I remained cautious not to flay the past where sore subjects might spill some apples. However, little verbal slips hinted we weren't always on the same page with our history. I soon learned Suzie had written me far more letters than the short notes I remembered receiving. Many of my responses never reached Connecticut and we began to surmise, were never mailed. He became obvious my husband was far more culpable for our years of estrangement than either of us suspected. My sister and I began to examine the evidence.
I'd scrapped together what money I could over the years to help with my mother's up keep, but Doug constantly fought me on the issue. Doug contended Suzie and Ben owed me because they lived rent free in a house that was, in his opinion, half mine. I argued it was my mother's home and her choice who she wished to live there. My sister's nearness was mutually beneficial. I thought my husband had bought my argument. Now I learned otherwise.
"What rent?" I asked when Suzie casually mentioned payments she and Ben had sent.
"To you, of course. We appreciate that you haven't raised it in years."
I was shocked. "Tell me. I don't believe what I'm hearing!"
Suzie and Ben had been paying rent; not to my mother, but behind my back to Doug! He arranged, years ago, for convenience sake he said, for direct bank deposit in an account I had no knowledge existed!
"The rat!" I screamed into the phone, waking up half of Northern Virginia. "Suzie, I swear to God I never knew! No wonder you hated my guts! The bastard!"
While the amount was relatively small, payments had continued for years. I'd handled Doug's paltry estate when he died and I found no such record.