For a moment, the room was silent except for the soft mechanical hum of the bottle sterilizer in the kitchen.
Then I understood exactly what he had imagined.
He did not want equal expenses.
He wanted to assign one daughter to me financially while continuing to call himself the father of both.
He wanted my income to absorb everything he considered excessive, while my unpaid labor remained invisible.
“You think one of the twins is your responsibility,” I said, “and the other is mine.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It is exactly what you said.”
“I’m talking about money.”
“I’m talking about our daughters.”
He stood and walked toward the kitchen, but I did not let the conversation end.
“There are more pages.”
He stopped.
I removed the next sheet.
It was a weekly schedule divided into mornings, evenings, overnight feedings, laundry, bottle preparation, baths, medical appointments, grocery shopping, daycare drop-offs, and pickups.
Half the blocks were shaded for me.
Half were shaded for him.
Daniel gave a short, humorless laugh.
“What is that supposed to be?”
“Equal.”
“I work all day.”
“So will I.”
“My job is demanding.”
“So is mine.”
“You’ve been away for months.”
“Because we agreed I would stay home with our child.
Then we had two children, and I stayed home with both.”
He looked at the schedule again.
“You expect me to wake up every other night?”
“Not every other night.
Half of every night.
There are two babies.”
His expression hardened.
“You’re being petty.”
“No.
I’m accepting your proposal.”
“This is punishment.”
“This is division.”
One of the twins made a small sound from her bassinet.
Daniel glanced toward her, but he did not move.
I waited until the sound became a cry.
Still, he stood beside the kitchen counter.
I rose, picked her up, and settled her against my shoulder.
She quieted almost immediately.
Daniel watched me sway with her.
“You make it look easy,” he muttered.
“I make it look familiar.
That is not the same thing.”
I returned to the table with the baby in my arms.
“My employer offered me my previous position,” I said.
“I start in two weeks.”
His eyes widened.
“You already called them?”
“You told me to get my job back.”
“I didn’t think you would do it in one day.”
That was the first honest thing he had said all evening.
