The specialist discreetly signaled me not to intervene.
Valentina continues.
Mariana had told her that my trips were a way to “run away from home problems” and that if Valentina had been a good child, I would have wanted to stay with them more.
That explains something I noticed without understanding.
Every time I went into the delegation, Valentina asked me:
Are you coming back for sure?
I was laughing, I was kissing her on the forehead and saying,
– Of course.
I thought he was a longing.
He was afraid.
But there is something else.
In the following week I received access, through the lawyer, to the documents and I started to check the things I had ignored for years because Mariana was managing many of the house expenses while I was away.
I didn’t discover a spectacular conspiracy.
I discovered something more trivial and, that is why, more painful.
Mariana had serious money problems.
He’s made big purchases.
He had accumulated debts.
He had used money from the account intended for family expenses to cover installments and purchases that I did not know about.
The “40,000 lei” carpet for which he pushed Valentina?
He didn’t even cost that.
He was bought in installments with other expensive items.
For Mariana, the image of the perfect house had become an obsession.
Everything had to look impeccable.
The furniture.
The clothes.
The family photos.
The child.
– Me.
And when reality did not match the image, its anger fell on the person who could not defend himself.
– Our daughter.
I didn’t try to diagnose it.
It wasn’t my job.
And no financial, emotional or personal problem turns violence on a child into an acceptable reaction.
Through the lawyer, we started the necessary procedures regarding the separation and the situation of Valentine’s. The measures relating to the contact between mother and child were left to the authorities and the court on the basis of professional assessments.
I did the one thing I could control right away.
I’ve changed my life.
I went to the company’s director.
I can’t be gone three weeks a month.
Diego, your projects require travel.
“Then give me another role.
What if it means less money?
I thought about Valentina.
It means less money.
Two months later I was working mainly in Brasov.
I was earning less.
But every morning we made Valentine’s breakfast.
I was taking her to school.
