The Price of Loyalty

“With our house money?” I asked. Ethan rubbed both hands over his face. “Don’t say it like that.” I almost laughed. “How else am I supposed to say it?” He turned away from me and walked toward the sink. “Maya needed the money.” “So you took fourteen thousand dollars from an account that belongs to both of us.” “I was going to tell you.” “When?” He didn’t answer. That told me everything. I looked back at the number on my phone. For the last year, we had said no to almost everything. No vacation. No new car. No dinners out unless someone gave us a gift card. I stopped getting my hair done regularly. Ethan stopped golfing with his friends. We even skipped my cousin’s wedding because flights were too expensive. Ethan had been the one who said, “Every dollar matters right now.” Apparently, every dollar mattered until his family needed it. “You lied to me,” I said. “I helped my sister.” “You can do both.” Ethan turned around. His jaw was tight now. “Maya gave up two years of her life for my mother.” I went quiet. Because that part was true. When Ethan’s mother got sick, Maya was only twenty-two. She dropped out of community college and moved back home. She cooked. She cleaned. She drove their mother to every appointment. She managed medications. She slept in a chair beside the hospital bed. Ethan was working two jobs at the time. His older brother was barely around. So Maya became the daughter, the nurse, and the only adult holding that house together. I had seen what it did to her. I had respected her for it. For one terrible second, I felt ashamed of my anger. Then I remembered the bank balance. “I’m not saying she didn’t deserve help,” I said. “I’m saying you don’t get to make that decision alone.” Ethan looked at me. “You would’ve said no.” The words landed harder than I expected. “Maybe I would have asked questions.” “That means no.” “No, Ethan. It means we would have made a plan.” He shook his head. “Maya didn’t have time for a committee meeting.” “I’m your wife, not a committee.” His phone buzzed on the counter. Neither of us moved at first. Then the screen lit up. Another message from Maya. I read it before Ethan could reach the phone. “Also, thank you for asking Rachel to help too. I didn’t think she would.” I looked at him slowly. Rachel was his ex-wife. And suddenly, the missing money was no longer the worst thing in the room.