“How were your finances managed during the marriage?”

“Robert handled most of the investments and business decisions. I managed the household budget and day-to-day expenses, but he always said I didn’t need to worry about the big-picture financial planning.”

Patricia looked up from her notepad.

“Mrs. Gillian, do you have access to bank statements, investment accounts, tax returns, insurance policies?”

“Some of them. Robert kept most of the financial papers in his home office, but I have access to our joint checking account, and I know where he keeps important documents.”

“I need you to gather everything you can find before he changes passwords or restricts your access. In sudden divorce filings like this, there’s often financial planning that the other spouse isn’t aware of.”

“What kind of financial planning?”

“Hidden assets, transferred funds, undervalued properties. Mrs. Gillian, men don’t usually file for divorce without having their financial ducks in a row, especially when they’ve been married for over 40 years and there are significant assets involved.”

The suggestion that Robert had been systematically planning to leave me while I’d been completely unaware made my stomach clench with a combination of humiliation and anger.

“Mrs. Gillian, you mentioned that your granddaughter overheard conversations between your husband and a woman with yellow hair. Can you describe what she told you in more detail?”

I repeated Emily’s account of the secret meeting, the questions about money, Robert’s comments about my supposed inability to understand business matters.

“That sounds like he was meeting with a financial adviser or investigator, possibly someone helping him catalog assets or prepare for property division. Mrs. Gillian, I need to ask you directly. Do you think your husband is having an affair?”

The question hit me like cold water. In my shock about the divorce filing, I hadn’t considered the possibility that Robert was leaving me for another woman.

“I… I don’t know. He’s been working late more often recently, and there have been phone calls that he takes in private, but I assumed it was work-related.”

“Forty-two-year marriages don’t usually end suddenly without some catalyst. Either your husband has been hiding his dissatisfaction for years, or there’s someone else involved who’s motivated this decision.”

I thought about the past months, looking for signs I might have missed. Robert’s increased attention to his appearance, his new cologne, his sudden interest in updating his wardrobe—changes I’d attributed to midlife renewal rather than midlife crisis.

“There’s something else,” I said, remembering Emily’s acute observations. “My granddaughter said Robert told her not to mention the woman’s visit to me because it would worry me, if it was just business. Why the secrecy?”

“Exactly. Mrs. Gillian, I want you to go home and document everything you can remember about recent changes in your husband’s behavior, new routines, unexplained absences, changes in how he handles money or communication. And I want you to gather financial documents without making it obvious that you’re doing so.”

“Is that legal?”

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