Mum, have you completely lost your mind?
Lydia felt her daughter’s words like a knife to the ribs. It stung. She kept peeling potatoes in silence, gripping the knife a little tighter.
“People are already pointing fingers at us! Dad—fine, he’s a man, but you? A woman! The heart of the home! Aren’t you ashamed?”
A tear rolled down Lydia’s cheek, then another… Soon they were streaming, but her daughter wouldn’t stop.
Kevin, her husband, sat slumped in his chair, his lower lip jutting out.
“Dad’s health is rubbish, how could you?! He needs looking after!” Kevin sniffed. “Is this how you treat him? He gave you his whole life, raised a child together, and now what? He gets ill, and you start eyeing other men? No way, love, that’s not how it’s done.”
“And how is it done, then?” Lydia asked softly.
“What?! Are you taking the mick?! Dad, can you believe this?!”
“Emily, you talk like I’m your worst enemy, not your mum… Oh, such concern for your dad.”
“Mum! What rubbish are you spouting?! That’s it—I’m calling Nan and Gran, let them sort you out! Disgraceful!”
“Imagine,” Emily huffed, turning to her dad, “I’m coming home from uni, and there they are—strolling down the lane, arm in arm! Reciting poetry, I bet. Did you write it yourself, Mum? Something about love, I suppose?”
“You’re cruel, Emily. Cruel and foolish. Too young to understand.”
“Not a scrap of remorse! Right, Nan and Gran are getting a call!”
Lydia straightened up, smoothed her dress, brushed off invisible dust. Stood tall.
“Alright, my loves. I’m off.”
“Where to, Lyd?”
“Leaving you, Kevin.”
“Leaving?! Where?! What about me?!”
Emily was shouting furiously into her phone.
“Em-ily!” Kevin wailed like it was a funeral. “Emily!”
“What, Dad?! Your back hurting?! Where?!”
“Ow, ow… Em… she… your mum… said she’s leaving…”
“Leaving?! Where?! Mum, what’s got into you in your old age?!”
Lydia smirked, carefully packing her suitcase.
She’d almost left once before, but then Kevin got poorly—his back went. The moaning, the whining…
“Lyd… think I’ve got a hernia…”
“The MRI showed nothing.”
“What do those doctors even know?! They keep it quiet at first!”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“To bleed you dry! Same thing happened to Geoff at work… creams, pills, then—bam! Hernia! Some rare one, not even a name for it…”
Back then, she stayed. Couldn’t abandon “poor Kev.”
But now…
“How much longer have you got, Lyd?” her mate Sarah had said. “You’re slaving away for them like a convict. What’s Kevin ever given you? Sweet nothing!” She smacked the table.
“Spent his youth gallivanting! Like a stray dog! That hairdresser—what’s her name…”
“Milly.”
“That’s the one! Dragged her around like a show pony! Meanwhile, you—two jobs, extra shifts, while he loafed on the sofa!”
“Sarah, you sound like you hate Kevin,” Lydia whispered, peeking into her friend’s eyes.
“Fine, I’ll say it.”
Lydia braced herself.
“I’ve no reason to love your ‘darling.’ Remember when he tried it on with me? His birthday at the cottage, I’d had one too many, passed out… Woke up—his hand over my mouth, the other up my top.”
The worst bit? His mum was on the next bed—watching. Later, she told me, “Your fault, leading our Kev on.” Threatened if I told you, she’d say I chased him.
So there.
Lydia stayed silent.
How had she never seen it?
Other wives bragged about gifts, holidays… Her? A hoover. A steamer because Kevin liked dumplings. Perfume—his mum’s, kept in the cabinet.
Sarah was right. She’d been asleep her whole life.
“Why’d you marry him?”
“Felt sorry for him… Big glasses, useless… His mum said, ‘He’s willing—take him, don’t embarrass us.’”
They cried, laughed, reminisced.
“If only I hadn’t pushed you away…”
“They convinced me married women don’t need friends.”
Lydia looked around the room.
Leaving was terrifying, but doable. Rent a flat. Divorce. Splitting assets… All earned by her hands.
Would Emily side with her dad? Fine.
She wasn’t leaving for another man. Peter was just a friend.
She craved quiet.
***
Oh, how the family tore into her!
“Go back to your husband! Beg forgiveness!” her mum screamed.
Mother-in-law faked a “heart attack,” but Lydia stepped over her and walked out.
Then…
Emily came to apologise.
They’re learning to rebuild.
And Kevin? A month after the divorce, he was arm-in-arm with Milly. His back miraculously cured.
Word is, Milly doesn’t tolerate nonsense…
But Lydia doesn’t care.
She’s learning to live.
Emily booked her a spa day.
Peter invited her hiking—like when they were young.
It’s never too late to start over.
Hard at first, then smooth sailing.
