Chapter 14

I discovered Betsy was having an affair. I can't say that I blamed her because the tension and stress to be perfect in the Samuel house seeped into all our lives, Trevor's included. Although he was a pleasant child, his personality was too serious for someone so young. We'd play a game and he appeared to be having fun, then all of a sudden he'd get morose or sigh and just keep calling for his mother. He also napped a lot and appeared tired out and prefered to cling to either me or his mother rather than play.

Anyhow, that afternoon when Trevor took his nap, Betsy returned from her study group as usual. She greeted me in the living room where I was picking up Trevor's blocks and some toys he left scattered about. She looked particularly young and pretty and happy. Was it just the hairstyle and makeup she recently altered or something else?

Betsy unpacked her briefcase and pulled out a picture frame. Silently she handed it to me.


John Hazen was her college boyfriend

"Who is this?" I asked.

"That's John." She indicated I should follow her into the dining room. We sat at the large table.

"I haven't been going to study group in Boston on Tuesdays and Thursdays," she confessed. "I've been taking the train up to Burlington to see John."

"Oh, Betsy, why are you telling me this?" I asked, feeling now I had to also keep this awful secret. In only a few weeks I would be at college. But for now I was deeply entangled in the Samuel soap opera.


Betsy's confession made me nervous

"I had to tell you, Laura. I had to tell someone. Richard is so mean, so controlling. He's the one who MADE me go to law school. Did you know when I met him, I was a paralegal in my uncle's office? Richard came in for some legal advice regarding his trust fund and we met at the office. A whirlwind romance, a girl who just wanted out of her boring small town, and three years later, here I am."

Her head was cast down.
"I'm not proud of myself," she replied. "But John is everything Richard is not. He's into the simple life. He wants to move back to our small town outside Burlington and take up his dad's dairy farm."

"What does he do now?"

"Oh, he's working as a lumberjack."

I blinked. "People actually work as lumberjacks?" I inquired, confused.

"Of course," she said. "But he wants me to go back to Vermont and take Trevor and divorce Richard. No one leaves the Samuel family. You know how much money they have--and their influence...Cousin...Arthur alone has his own legal team and they are ruthless."

"I worry about my mom sometimes, dating him." I agreed.

"Laura, I know I will never see Trevor again if I want to divorce Richard. What am I going to do?"