Chapter 28: Bea’s Story

Beatriz Soares had been married for 17 years when she discovered her husband, Felipe, had been supporting another woman in addition to her and their children Fernanda, 15, and their twin boys Diego and Danilo, 9.

This was possible for two reasons. First, Felipe was a lawyer and took home plenty of income. Second, he was secretive about money and kept exclusive control of their finances, bill-paying, and so on. He even forged her signature on their tax returns so she had no idea of his actual income.

At home, he was distant from his family. Many nights he was completely absent, blaming his workload for keeping him away. To be more credible, in his office he had an armoire with suits and shirts inside and a sofa bed. Of course, he was actually spending the night at his girlfriend’s apartment.

Eventually, though, he was careless and Bea found out. Felipe was fearless in the courtroom, but quailed in the face of his wife’s anger. Not only because of the meat cleaver in her hand, but also because she threatened to call Felipe’s parents.

Felipe couldn’t decide which would be less painful: mayhem or his mother. And he knew Bea would prevail in a contested divorce, because their state had repealed the “no-fault” divorce law and his girlfriend would be dragged in to the lawsuit with him.

So Felipe settled privately on generous terms with Bea. The house was paid off, so he signed a quitclaim to make the property entirely hers. In lieu of medical insurance and educational obligations, he set up irrevocable college funds for the children, and paid Bea a generous monthly support for as long as the kids were her dependents.

After that, he went from intermittent fathering to complete absence. Bea had promised herself to cooperate with his visitation despite her anger, but it never came up. To the detriment of his children, he simply disappeared from their lives. They didn’t even get birthday cards or Christmas presents.

Then Bea had her heart attack. They brought her to the hospital quickly and installed a stent in her right coronary artery by snaking a catheter up through her arm. Fortunately, the heart muscle wasn’t too badly damaged but it was a week before she could return home and nearly a month before she felt able to take on full responsibility for the three children.