I shoved past him.
“Don’t touch me!”
The children had stopped playing. They stared at us. The toddler started crying.
“What’re you doing here?”
I pointed at the woman by the pool. “Do you know you’re dating a married man? His mother just died!”
The woman’s eyes widened. She sat up straight. “Excuse me?”
Before she could say anything else, John stepped between us.
“Emma, stop! You’re scaring them.”
“Oh, I’m scaring them?” I let out a broken laugh. “You told them you’d stay here ‘forever.’ Is that the plan? Just replace us?”
The boy with the soccer ball started crying. One of the girls covered her ears.
“Do you know you’re dating a married man?”
“Please,” John said quietly. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said. “You made your choice.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is! I’m ashamed to be your wife!”
His jaw tightened. “Don’t say that.”
“You said you’d stay here forever. Fine. Stay. Don’t come back home.”
I turned and walked out of the yard. I didn’t look back.
I drove home in silence, my thoughts loud enough to drown out everything else.
“You made your choice.”
When I reached our house, I slammed the door behind me and leaned against it. The quiet felt heavy.
I looked up at the ceiling and whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me? Why would you protect him instead of me?”
I felt foolish talking to like that, but I couldn’t stop.
“You said ‘find out the truth,'” I said, my voice shaking. “Well, I did. Was that what you wanted me to see?”
No answer came.
I wiped my face and grabbed my purse. If John could build a second life without me, I could build one without him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Within an hour, I sat across from a divorce lawyer named Karen. She listened without interrupting as I explained everything.
“So you believe your husband is living a double life?” she asked gently.
“I heard him,” I said. “He said he’d stay there forever.”
“Do you have proof of infidelity?”
“I saw children. A woman.”
Karen folded her hands. “We can start proceedings immediately. You don’t need proof to file.”
“Let’s do it,” I said firmly. “I won’t wait around.”
She nodded. “I’ll draw up the paperwork.”
Walking out of her office, I felt both powerful and hollow.
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