"You’re home? I was just about to bring you dinner at the hospital."
I stared at him and asked, "Darien, when a man stops loving a woman, why doesn’t he just let her go?"
His hand trembled. The seasoning bottle in his grip shook.
"You poured too much," I said, staring at the pan.
"Ah, right… I’ll just add more ingredients to balance it out," he replied hoarsely.
He had heard my question. He just did not answer.
"Just forget it. It won't be the same dish anymore."
I was not done, my voice sharpened this time. "You fell in love with someone else. Why didn’t you just leave me? Why did you lie? Why fake a bankruptcy, stage a divorce, just to keep me around—working myself to the bone for your promise of some future remarriage?"
In the end, I thought about the ten years I had given him—my youth, my love, my everything… and the child growing inside me. Tears slipped down my cheeks again, uncontrollably.
Darien put down the spatula and rushed over to hold me, his arms tight around me as he spoke in a panicked voice.
"Ellie, where did you hear such nonsense? I love you! I’d never lie to you. I can’t even imagine my life without you."