Then Hannah’s attorney sent a short letter stating that she would not accept the proposed payment and wished to resolve the divorce through ordinary legal channels.

I was offended.

It embarrasses me to admit that.

I thought rejecting the money was a way of punishing me, another attempt to prolong a conversation I had already ended.

The papers were signed after our attorneys reviewed the marital property and our prenuptial agreement.

Hannah accepted the modest property and savings that were hers under those arrangements.

She asked for nothing beyond what the agreement provided.

I treated her refusal as proof that she was proud and unreasonable, when in fact she had simply refused to let my fortune serve as an apology I hadn’t made.