Skip to content “Your mother showed me the brochure before I proposed.”
I sank onto the tile across from him.
“She said you and Rosie were adults. She said Rosie would eventually become a responsibility neither of them wanted you to carry.”
“That isn’t true.”
“She said, ‘Cathy deserves a life of her own. We will not chain her to Rosie.’”
My stomach turned.
“I would never have abandoned her.”
“I know.”
“Rosie was not a burden.”
“I know.”
“They knew that.”
Ben’s face hardened.
“No, Cathy. They knew she had needs. They decided that meant her future could be arranged without her.”
He gestured toward the contract.
“They offered me money to marry her, take legal guardianship, and remove the responsibility from them.”
I looked down at the pages.
“You agreed.”
“I agreed to marry Rosie because I loved her.”
“That does not explain why you signed this.”
“If I refused, they were going to move forward with the facility.”
“You could have told me.”
“They threatened to stop me from seeing her.”
“She was an adult.”