“So what if I slipped up? It happens,” he muttered.
“You just keep going on and on! That Natasha is long gone, and yet youre still jealous and nagging me. Emma, maybe enough already? Weve got real issues to deal withlike Sophie.”
Emmas eyebrows shot up in surprise. She stayed silent for a few seconds, wondering if shed misheard. Any moment now, and hed probably blame *her* for his affair.
“Daniel, youve got the wrong door. Ive got other priorities now. My only real issue is divorcing you.”
“Divorce?!” he snapped. “God, we were fine all these years! Nearly a decade went by. We couldve kept going if you hadnt found out. What does it even change?”
“It changes everything,” Emma said, locking eyes with him. “All these years, I lived in lies and illusions. And now youre acting like its nothing.”
His stubbornness grated on her as much as the betrayal itself. Shed known Daniel for over twenty-five years. She knew how he frowned when criticized, how he pressed his lips thin when upset. But this? This was new. It was like seeing a stranger.
“What illusions? I loved you all this time. Still do. That other thing” He waved a hand dismissively. “That was ages ago. Might as well never have happened.”
Hard to pretend it never happened when there was an eight-year-old girl left behind. Daniel now saw it as his sacred duty to take her in. The alternative was his elderly mother, who could barely care for herself. Foster care wasnt an optionhe insisted, like some chivalrous knight, that his children shouldnt grow up without parents.
Emma couldnt forgive the betrayal. Shed grown up in a family built on trust.
Her father was a homebody; her mother adored travel. Mum could vanish for a solo trip to Brighton on a whim, and Dad would wave her off at the station with a smile, helping with the suitcases, never once suspicious. Mum did the same when he went on business tripskissing him goodbye, handing over a tin of homemade scones, tucking a tiny cross into his coat pocket.
Sure, theyd argued. Mum might raise her voice and slam a door; Dad might go silent for days. But they never doubted each others loyalty. Even when he drank at office parties or family gatherings, his eyes stayed on her, his arm around her waist, praising her in front of everyone.
For Emma, that was the blueprint. She grew up certain: if you love someone, you trust them. And if you dont trust them, whats the point?
She and Daniel had been comfortable once. The only real issue was kids.
“Emma, why rush? Let me get us settled first, land a proper job, *then* well think about children,” hed said in their fifth year together.
“Its time. Im thirtynot getting any younger. Neither are you. Or do you want our kid calling us grandpa and grandma?” shed grumbled.
So she waited. But the “proper job” never came, and her biological clock didnt stop. At thirty-eight, she had their son, James. He was twelve now.
Daniel took up contract work up north to support themthree months away, one month home. He was exhausted but brought in good money. Emma missed him but saw it as an investment in their future.
She didnt know he wasnt investing much patience.
“What did you expect? Three months alone. Barely even countsjust a moment of weakness. Like sneaking an extra biscuit,” hed explained when the truth came out.
“Weakness?!” Emma had snapped. “Why arent *my* weaknesses lining up outside? Or are we made of different stuff?”
“Well, youre a woman. Its not the same for you.”
Maybe they *were* made of different stuff. To him, it was a slip-uplike indulging in ice cream. To her, it erased everything good between them.
She wouldnt have known about the affair if not for the accident. If Daniel hadnt casually brought up Sophie, like discussing the weekly grocery list.
“See, Daniel…” Emma said, snapping back to the present. “I dont even blame the girl. If you strip everything away, shes just a child in a bad spot. But you? I dont want to live with *you*.”
He waved her off irritably.
“Whats got into you? Fine, well talk in the morning. Thingsll look clearer then.”
Come morning, Daniel brought reinforcements: his mother, Margaret. She had a stake in thisif Emma refused, *shed* be stuck with the girl. So of course, she piled on the guilt.
“Emma, love, think of the poor child!” Margaret pressed. “Shell be a comfort to you in your old age. Boys fly the nest, but girls stay. Look at it differentlymaybe its a blessing? Youre past having your own, and heres a ready-made one!”
“Margaret, Im not ready. I wont love her. I cant,” Emma admitted.
“Oh, rubbish! Youll adjustmotherly instincts kick in. Youre not the first! Think of wartimeremember *The Soldiers Boy*? Or women marrying widowers with kids? Or adoptions? People manage!”
Emma exhaled sharply. One thought betrayal had an expiry date; the other compared it to a wartime novel. Meanwhile, Emma felt like shed been living someone elses life, blind to the shadow over their family.
“Margaret, thats all lovely, but those people *choose* it. I never agreed to betrayal.”
“But the girls innocent.”
“And so, apparently, am I.”
They talked for hours but got nowhere. To Margaret, it was a hiccup. To Emma, the end.
So that evening, she didnt open the door. She left Daniels bags in the hallway, bolted the lock, and turned on her favourite show. Of course she was on edgebut after this, peace was gone anyway. Daniel didnt even grasp what hed done. Hadnt apologised. Or maybe he was playing dumb.
By seven, keys jangled in the lock. Then came pounding on the door.
“Emma, I know youre there! Open up! Youre acting like a child!”
“Right. And youre the grown man fathering kids across the UK,” she shot back, leaning against the console table. “You wanted my decision? Here it is. Raise your daughter with your mum. Youll do just fine.”
“Dont be daft! So I slipped upwho hasnt?”
“Me, Daniel. *I* havent. Take Sophie, leave me alone. I dont care how long its been. Betrayal doesnt expire.”
“At least let me say goodbye to James!”
“So you can upset him too?” she flared, then relented. “Fine. But Im not unbolting that door.”
“Twenty-five years, and now Im shut out?” Daniel whined.
Emma tuned him out. She went to Jamess room. Hed been unusually quiet all evening. Hed seen her packing Daniels things but asked nothing. The shouting lately hadnt escaped him.
Even a child knew where this was headed.
“Jamie, your dad wants to say goodbye.”
James didnt look up from his homework.
“I dont want to,” he said, lips tight.
“Are you sure?” Emma asked softly, stepping closer.
Shed feared hed blame herfor not keeping his dad. Or worse, choose to leave with Daniel. But
“Im sure. He used to be my hero. I thought he sacrificed so much for us. Now… I dont want to see him, Mum.”
Emma sighed, pulled him close. His words lifted a weight off her chest.
“Im sorry I couldnt keep us together.”
“*He* lost us. Not you,” James said firmly, hugging her back. “Im staying with you.”
Daniel was stunned when told James refused to see him. He banged on the door for ten more minutes, demanding a “proper talk,” but finally left.
Grief gnawed at Emma, but beneath it rose relief. Shed drawn the line. Made her choice. Self-respect mattered more than keeping up appearances. And thankfully, her son was nothing like his father.
