I forced myself out of bed and cooked a three course meal before collapsing again without even pouring water for myself. That was how I lived for five long years until the energetic young woman I used to be slowly faded into a quiet ghost who rarely spoke.
I did try to fight back once by asking Travis for help. He hugged me and promised to talk to his mother, yet I heard her furious voice through the bedroom wall moments later.
“So you choose your wife over your own mother now?” she shouted angrily.
Travis returned looking exhausted and said helplessly, “My mom is getting older, so please try to be patient with her.”
That was the moment something inside my heart froze permanently.
In recent months Travis often returned home late smelling of unfamiliar perfume and avoided sleeping beside me by claiming work stress. I suspected something was wrong but remained silent because I feared confronting the truth. My denial ended on the afternoon when Travis officially introduced Brianna Dalton.
Doris had asked me to buy expensive seafood and steaks from Green Market Plaza for an important guest dinner. When I returned carrying heavy grocery bags I saw Brianna sitting confidently on the sofa holding Doris’s hand like a beloved daughter. She looked flawless with designer clothes and perfect makeup while I stood there wearing a stained apron that smelled like fish.
Doris sneered immediately when she saw me. “You finally came back after wasting half the afternoon wandering around,” she snapped. “Take those groceries to the kitchen before you embarrass us in front of our guest.”
Travis then pulled me outside onto the deck and calmly announced that he loved Brianna and wanted a divorce. He explained that the house belonged to his parents so I would receive nothing, although he generously offered fifty thousand dollars as a settlement. I looked at the man I once loved and realized he truly believed I was worthless without him.
I answered quietly, “You can keep your money because I do not want a single cent.”
After packing my few belongings into a suitcase I walked out of that house without shedding a single tear. On the sidewalk I dialed the number of an old college acquaintance named Dominic Harper, a brilliant entrepreneur who had once helped fund my scholarship. When he answered I broke down and told him everything about my marriage and the humiliation I had just experienced.