She stared at the photograph of the woman with pale hair and felt overwhelmed with sadness and a stark sense of betrayal. The confrontation with her husband the week before left her feeling alone and doubting everything about her marriage. ‘Was it all built on a lie?’

She ran her finger along the crack in the glass caused by their struggle to hold  onto the frame. He had won in the end. He always won. He was stronger and bigger than she was and that was what had drawn her to him in the beginning.  He made her feel safe and protected. She loved him with all her heart.

Now the silence was overpowering. He’d been married and had a son, and he’d never told her. He told her it had nothing to do with her and to mind her own business. She felt lied to and cheated by his silence at the beginning. Now they were at the end. She had to decide. She couldn’t live like this. She wouldn’t allow herself to be treated like this!

She looked around the silent room. Her eyes scanned the books, the long table, his desk. She missed her family, but most of all; she missed him.  With one last look around she carefully picked up her sleeping son and left in the early light of dawn.