The only time my ex-wife and I ever truly saw eye to eye was right at the beginning of our relationship. We sailed through the early days of chocolates and bunches of flowers, swept up in the illusion of mad love. But it all changed when we found out we were expecting a child, and both our parents insisted we get married. That was when things started to unravel between us. Not enough to seek a divorce straight away, especially not after wed had a son and managed a year of married life, but enough to cause regular rowssometimes several in a single week and often over the smallest things.
Fortunately, my job kept me out of the house for long hours, while my wife stayed at home with the baby. That meant we had a bit of breathing room from each other. As long as our paths didnt cross too much and I doted on my son in my free time, it wasnt unbearable. Maybe thats the very reason we decided to have a second child when our boy turned four.
Adding another child to our family brought us a little closer, gave us the sense we were doing alright, and kept us busy with the never-ending duties of childcare and everything that comes with it.
Then, before I knew it, our third child arrived. I took on even more work to make ends meet, and my wife agreed to the arrangement. We werent naturally thrifty, and I did everything in my power to ensure none of our children ever felt lesser than anyone else. I also showered my wife with care and gifts whenever I could, but it must not have been enough. When our eldest turned 11 and the youngest was four, she handed me divorce papers and announced she was seeing someone else.
Oddly, it didnt devastate me as much as I expected. Honestly, I cant say I was shocked that shed found another man. She had time on her hands between the school run and nursery pick-ups, whereas I was always preoccupied with work and keeping the family afloat. Still, what threw me completely was her absolute determination to leave the children in my care.
Shed spent their entire lives parenting them day in and day out, and then suddenly shed had enough and started threatening me. She told me bluntly that if she was forced to drag the kids along into a new marriage, she would just put them in a childrens home or something dreadful like that. She and her new man were planning to have a baby together, and as for our three, well, she wanted nothing more to do with them.
I cant quite put into words how that made me feel. Angry, of coursemaybe a little lostbut above all, left wondering how love could turn so cold between two people who once thought themselves inseparable.
