CHAPTER 4: My Wife Finally Told Me Everything
CHAPTER 4: My Wife Finally Told Me Everything
The argument ended only because Sophie started crying upstairs.
Emily never came back down.
I found her an hour later sitting in the nursery.
The room was dim except for the soft yellow lamp beside the rocking chair.
She was humming quietly while feeding Sophie.
When she saw me, she immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry."
I frowned.
"For what?"
"For causing all this."
I knelt beside her chair.
"You think this is your fault?"
She looked away.
"I should've handled it better."
I took her free hand.
"No."
"You should've never had to handle it."
For several minutes neither of us spoke.
The only sound was Sophie drinking from her bottle.
Then Emily whispered something that made my heart stop.
"I almost left."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She closed her eyes.
"Last Tuesday."
Everything inside me went cold.
"I packed two bags."
I couldn't breathe.
"You... packed?"
She nodded.
"I put Sophie's clothes in one bag."
"My clothes in another."
I whispered,
"Why?"
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Because I couldn't do it anymore."
I felt physically sick.
"You were leaving me?"
"No."
She looked straight into my eyes.
"I was escaping this house."
Those words shattered me.
"I kept waiting for you to notice."
"I kept telling myself things would get better."
"I kept believing your mother would treat me like family."
She smiled sadly.
"But every day..."
"It got worse."
I squeezed her hand.
"What happened while I was gone?"
Emily hesitated.
Then, for the first time in our marriage...
She told me everything.
How Melissa left dirty dishes for days because "Emily likes cleaning."
How Frank complained whenever dinner wasn't ready exactly at six.
How Mom criticized every bottle Emily prepared for Sophie.
How they woke the baby by arguing loudly in the mornings.
How they invited friends over without asking.
How they ate groceries I'd bought before Emily had a chance to cook them.
How they laughed when Emily cried in the laundry room because she was too exhausted to stand.
Each sentence hit harder than the last.
Then she quietly said the one thing I knew I'd never forget.
"Yesterday..."
She paused.
"I fainted."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"I was holding Sophie."
Every muscle in my body locked.
"What happened?"
"I hadn't eaten since breakfast."
"My blood sugar dropped."
"Mom caught Sophie..."
Emily swallowed.
"...then she yelled at me for being careless."
I couldn't speak.
Emily lowered her head.
"I sat on the kitchen floor crying."
"They went back to watching television."
Silence filled the nursery.
Long.
Heavy.
Unbearable.
Finally, I stood.
Without saying a word, I walked to the closet.
Pulled out two large suitcases.
Emily looked confused.
"What are you doing?"
I zipped them open and carried them downstairs.
When I entered the living room, Mom, Melissa, and Frank looked up.
I placed both empty suitcases in the middle of the floor.
Then I calmly said,
"You don't have twenty-four hours anymore."
Frank frowned.
"What?"
I looked at each of them one by one.
"You have until sunrise."
"And if a single suitcase is still in this house after that..."
I reached into my pocket...
...and placed my phone on the coffee table.
"I'll make one phone call."
No one asked who I intended to call.
May you like
Because somehow...
They already knew.
