Her name was Eleanor, she had once been his colleague. A few hours before the celebratory dinner, my husband called and said, We need to talk.
Rosemary stood in the kitchen of her flat in London, carefully arranging the napkins on the table shed set for the occasion. It was her and Theodores tenth wedding anniversary, and shed wanted everything to be perfectthe candles, his favourite wine, the scent of roasted lamb filling the house. But just hours before the guests were to arrive, her phone rang. Her husbands name flashed across the screen. Rosemary, we need to talk, he murmured, his voice cold and distant. In that moment, her heart clenched, as if sensing what was to come. She didnt yet know that call would shatter her life, but she already felt the foundations of years crumbling beneath her.
Theodore had been her rock, her great love, the one with whom shed shared dreams and hardships. Theyd met at university, married young, raised their daughter, Charlotte, together. Rosemary had trusted him completely, even when he came home late from work or travelled for business. Shed been proud of his successTheodore had become a department head at a prominent firm, his charm opening every door. Yet, with the phone in her hand, she recalled the signs shed ignored: his distant gaze, his clipped replies, those strange calls hed end abruptly. The name Eleanor flickered in her mind like a shadow shed refused to acknowledge.
Eleanor had worked with him two years earlier. Rosemary had met her at a company eventtall, confident, her gaze lingering on Theodore just a moment too long. At the time, Rosemary had brushed off the pang of jealousy: Just a colleague, nothing serious. Theodore had even told her Eleanor had resigned and moved to the countryside. But now, hearing his hesitant breath on the phone, Rosemary understood: Eleanor had never really left. I never meant for this to happen, Rosemary he began, each word striking like a blow. He confessed hed been seeing Eleanor for a year, that shed returned to London, that he was lost. Rosemary stayed silent, feeling the ground give way beneath her.
She didnt remember hanging up. Or turning off the oven, putting away the candles shed lit with such hope that morning. Her thoughts spiralled: How could he? Ten years, Charlotte, our homeall for her? Sitting on the sofa, their wedding photo in her hands, she tried to pinpoint when her life had become a lie. She thought of Theodores embrace just last week, his promise to take Charlotte to the Lake District. All while hed been with someone else. The betrayal burned, but worse was the realisation: shed seen nothing because shed believed in him. Shed loved him so deeply shed gone blind.
When Theodore returned, Rosemary met him in heavy silence. The guests never cameshed cancelled the dinner, unable to pretend. He looked guilty but not broken. I never wanted to hurt you, Rosemary. But with Eleanor its different. Those words finished her. She didnt shout, didnt cryshe simply looked at him as if he were a stranger. Go. Her voice was steadier than shed expected. Theodore nodded, took his bag, and left, abandoning her in a flat still scented with the remnants of a celebration that never happened.
A month passed. Rosemary tried to live for Charlotte, who didnt know the full truth. She smiled for her daughter, made her breakfast, but spent nights weeping, wondering, Why wasnt I enough? Her friends offered comfort, but their words healed nothing. She learned Theodore and Eleanor were living together now, another sting. Yet, deep inside, something stirreda quiet strength. She hadnt collapsed. Shed cancelled that dinner, but not her life.
Now, Rosemary faces the future with cautious hope. Shes enrolled in design classes, an old dream from her youth, spends more time with Charlotte, learns to love herself again. Theodore calls sometimes, asking forgiveness, but she isnt ready to listen. Eleanor, once just a shadow, holds no power over her anymore. Rosemary knows now: her life isnt him, or their marriage. Its her. And that anniversary, meant to be a celebration, became the first chapter of a new storyone where shell never again dim her light for someone who fails to see it.
Through it all, she learned never to sacrifice her own glow for those who cannot appreciate its warmth.
