No, not the young blonde nurse this time. This was an elegant older woman. They were coming out of an expensive restaurant together, laughing.
There was another ugly confrontation at home, this time in harsh whispers so they wouldn’t wake Polly. Again Mike swore it meant nothing. Again he promised it would never happen again. And again Anna forced herself to swallow the humiliation.
Then it happened more than once. At first she believed him. Eventually she stopped believing anything he said. She simply lived in the same apartment with him for their daughter’s sake.
Years passed quietly. Polly grew into a bright, beautiful young woman. Thank God, her health was fine.
After high school, she got into a business program in a larger city and moved away. She came home on breaks and major holidays. Anna and Mike worked hard to make things look normal whenever she visited.
Mostly Anna worked at it. She never forgot the terror of that night in the kitchen when Polly got sick. She was always afraid another episode might happen.
Mike, meanwhile, lived however he pleased. He had affairs with nurses, women from outside work, whoever caught his eye. Sometimes he didn’t come home at all, blaming overnight shifts.
Over time he became sure he could get away with anything. He knew Anna would endure it for Polly’s sake. In truth, they were little more than roommates.
Only when their daughter came home did they put on the act of being a happy couple. Anna had talked more than once about opening her own salon, but it never came together. There was never quite enough money, or enough time, or enough energy.
Mike stayed a regular primary care doctor. He was a decent physician, but his paycheck never seemed all that impressive. Anna, with tips, often earned more than he did.
Or maybe she just didn’t know the full story of his finances. As it turned out, she didn’t know plenty. One day she learned that Mike had a whole second family.
There was even a small child. She found out by accident. She saw him out on the street with a younger woman and a stroller.
He was walking with them the same way he used to walk with Anna and baby Polly. Anna understood everything instantly and didn’t go near them. Mike saw her in the crowd and looked like a man caught in a fire.
That evening she asked him directly whose child it was. This time he didn’t lie. He admitted that the clinic administrator had recently had a son by him.
He was forty-seven and still acting like a fool. Anna wanted to file for divorce that minute.
But then Polly called with happy news. In a month she’d be graduating with honors and getting married. She and her fiancé, Daniel, had already filed the paperwork and were coming home soon.
“We’ll get through the wedding, and then we divorce,” Anna said flatly. “And after that, I don’t want to see you in my apartment again.”
“Just so you know,” Mike said coolly, “we’ll divide property according to the law. I’m entitled to part of this place.”
Anna stared at him. “Entitled to what, exactly? This apartment came from my grandmother before I ever met you.”
“I put years of money and labor into it,” he said. “I checked with a lawyer. You may owe me compensation.”
Anna gave a tired little laugh. “For what? Hanging a few crooked shelves? Fine. I’ll reimburse you for the nails.”
And strangely, by then, she felt no sharp pain. No fresh outrage. Everything inside her had burned out.
She took the coming divorce and Mike’s petty demands with almost total calm. She was simply exhausted. Tired clear through to the bone.
But first there was her daughter’s wedding. And that, at least, was joyful. They traveled, met Daniel’s polite, professional parents, and the wedding itself was lovely.
The newlyweds moved into Daniel’s late grandmother’s condo. Both had good jobs with the same large company. Anyone could see they truly loved each other.
At the wedding Anna kept wiping away tears of happiness. Let Polly have the marriage Anna never got to have. Then, after they returned home, the divorce finally happened.
Of course Mike got no claim on the apartment itself. He took his car, the big flat-screen TV, and a few other things. Anna didn’t care.
He could take every last object in the house if it meant he would finally disappear from her life. As Mike packed up his final boxes, Anna stood in the hallway and watched in silence. She could hardly believe she had spent so many years with such a small, petty man.
“This is mine too,” Mike said at the end. “My mother gave it to me for my birthday.” With that, he took an old seascape painting off the wall. It was cracked and faded.
Anna almost smiled to herself:
