4: 4
"Just because I bought the wrong cake?"
I couldn't be bothered to invent a reason. I stood up. "It can be."
"If we divorce, where do you think you'll go?" Seeing me head for the bedroom, he panicked, the words spilling out before he could stop them. "Who's going to want a divorced woman with a kid?"
My steps halted.
The air went quiet.
"That's not what I meant..." His voice was frantic. "I just can't accept you wanting a divorce."
His eyes flicked to the fruit knife on the table. He snatched it up and pressed it to his wrist.
"You know how hard it was for me to get you to remarry me. You can't go back on your word."
I looked at his bloodshot eyes and wanted to say that I wasn't the one who'd broken a promise.
Then I decided there was no point.
In the silence, the blade split his skin, and dark red blood welled up.
The same old trick. Once, it might have softened me all over again.
Now all I felt was numb.
Since a mutual divorce wasn't going to work, that left only the courts.
I drew a deep breath and pulled an easy smile onto my face.
"I was joking. It's just that seeing you with another woman at the clinic today left me a little uneasy."
"I told you, she's a client." He exhaled and dropped the knife. "What's gotten into you lately, always thinking the worst?"
"Maybe it's postpartum mood swings," I said, my voice low, and turned into the guest room.
"Rainey and I are going to sleep in here for a while. I want to clear my head."
I didn't press him, and he said nothing more.
Over the next few days, we tacitly avoided the subject, each busy with our own things.
He was busy getting ready for his trip. I was busy getting ready to leave.
Before he left, he slid a bracelet onto my wrist.
"Wait for me to come back. There's something I want to tell you."
It was the Rowe family heirloom bracelet. I'd seen it in that book in the study, the Rowe Family Collection Catalog.
I'd never seen him take it out before, and I had no idea why he was suddenly giving it to me.
But I didn't care anymore.
Beatrice's social media posts kept lighting up my phone.
The newest one was a sunset over the banks of the Seine.
In a corner of the frame sat a half-finished coffee, and along the rim you could make out a blurry cuff.
Those agate cufflinks were the birthday gift I'd given Giles last year.
Her caption read:
【The dusk in Paris lasts a long time, long enough for two people to walk slowly. I never want this trip with you to end.】
Scroll back further and it was just as lively.
One day, a selfie holding crepes in front of the Louvre. The next, flashing a peace sign under the Eiffel Tower at night.
Scattered through the grids were shots of him tying her shoelaces, holding an umbrella over her.
I saved every screenshot, one by one.
Beatrice was living happily now, in her own way.
No one would ever guess she'd once been a baby abandoned at the foot of a bridge.
My parents had adopted her, and right up until they died, they never mentioned it in front of her.
I wondered what she'd do the day she learned where she really came from.
The day I left for Miami.
I set a thick folder on the coffee table, along with a signed divorce agreement.
The bracelet and my wedding ring sat on top of them.
The note read:
【My posting will last at least three years. Look over the agreement. If you agree, sign it and mail it to my company's legal department. If you don't sign, then we wait out two years of separation and go through the courts.】
...
I'd just reached the airport when I saw Giles and Beatrice coming out from inside, still some distance away.
Beatrice rose onto her toes and held her phone up in front of Giles's face.
He laughed and slid an arm around her waist, then bent to press a kiss to her forehead.
The two of them brushed right past me.
I didn't make a sound. I kept walking.
Past security, Rainey suddenly started to cry in my arms.
I rocked and patted her gently, still moving forward, and didn't see Giles stop short in the distance.
His dazed gaze searched through the crowd.
At the security check, my phone buzzed. A message from Giles.
【I think I just saw you at the airport?】
I didn't reply. I turned and walked to the gate.
The plane lifted off.
The night beyond the window glittered here and there, like some grand fireworks display that had never belonged to me.
I gave a small wave, and all my years tangled up with Giles were left behind.
