That was the first time I saw him truly enraged. His face went rigid, cold enough to pierce through flesh.
“Kelly, don’t forget, whatever I’ve given you, I can take away at any time.”
I thought of our daughter’s future. And in the end, that storm never even reached the shore.
It ended before it began, quiet as a whisper.
After that, I learned to stay in line.
No matter how often he changed women, he never forgot that he still had a family waiting at home.
Sometimes, I wondered, maybe that tenderness in his eyes when he looked at me was real.
I was his legal wife. Maybe, deep down, I truly was different from the others.
He built a tall, firm wall between our home and the world of singing birds and swaying willows.
I stayed behind the wall, pretending not to see.
They stayed outside, sharing one indulgent affair after another with him.
But Courtney’s appearance shattered that fragile line.
She wasn’t left outside. He invited her in. Brought her right in front of me.
After coaxing Madeline to sleep, I returned to the master bedroom.
He stood on the balcony, the night breeze brushing his sleeves, a faint smile on his face as he skimmed through something on his phone.