22April
Ive just unpacked the suitcase my wife sent overher usual habit of sending everything at once. Dont be ridiculous! she shouted, but that only made me smile.
It was the day Emily first mentioned a video camera. Not just mentionedshe installed one in every room. She kept it a secret, promising a surprise, and sure enough, the surprise arrived.
She settled into the armchair, her baby bump evident, and thought, Good thing she married Tom and not that clumsy Mark Collins! She imagined herself living in a council flat beyond the M25, but she knows Mark never could handle more than a simple job. No one would ever call a great general Mark of Macedonia; it would be as odd as calling Churchill Bob. Yet Mark Collins does sound oddly fitting.
The boys had been friends since school, both smitten with sweettempered Emily. They roamed the streets together, three of them, but Mark always lost out to the witty James. He never seemed to notice, and their friendship survived. When Emily finally chose Tom after the graduation ball, the third manMarkhad to step aside.
Three months into university, Tom left her for a fellow student. Desperate, she called Mark, oddly addressing him as Sasha for the first time. Loyal as ever, Mark showed up, easing her loneliness and pulling her from a slump. There was never anything romantic between them; he was content just being near the woman he loved.
By spring, Emily fell for someone elseHarry, a senior studying at the same university. They met in the library, a place still filled with paper books. Mark was pushed to the background as Emilys thoughts turned to Harry, a student a few years older, not the awkward architect Mark had become after school.
Mark, from a large family that prized money, boasted, Give me a year of study and Ill have a trade! He dreamed of the day he could attend university. Emily, bored with the stiff, wellstitched boyfriend, craved affection, which she soon found with Harry. Their love blossomed, and within a year they were planning to marry once Harry graduated and she was on her second year.
Meanwhile Mark, now working for a respectable construction firm, earned a decent wage. He and Tom remained friends, and Mark learned that Tom, now single, would also attend the upcoming school reunion. The event was set for the first Saturday in February. Emily, eager to show her former suitor that she was moving on, decided to go, dressing in a pretty dress with a mink coat over it. Mark drove her there in his own car.
Seeing Tom again made Emily realise she had never truly moved on; something inside her still waited. Tom, too, seemed pleased to see how much shed changed in the past eighteen months. He never mentioned Marks presence. Mark, for his part, still thought Emily the most beautiful woman hed ever knownshed always been stunning in his eyes.
They stared at each other, then, without a word, left together, heading straight to Toms flat where they finally caught up on the lost time. Mark stayed behind, once again the third wheel.
The wedding Emily had planned with Harry fell through. In August, now pregnant, she married Tom after he proposed. An ultrasound revealed they were expecting a girl.
Tom proved a decent husband. After they wed, he switched to evening shifts as a courierstill a wellpaid job in these times. Emily completed her thirdyear exams as an external student, with financial help from her parents. It was an ordinary life for an ordinary, happy family.
Soon their daughter, Lily, arrived on schedule. As Lily grew, Emily decided not to send her to daycare, fearing what might happen there. Instead she hired a nanny, since her own mother was still working and her father was retired. The chosen nanny was twentytwoyearold Agatha, studying parttime while babysitting. Agathas references were solid, though Emily didnt find her particularly attractivea deliberate choice, she thought, to avoid complications.
Agathas fee was slightly below market, fitting the budget perfectly. She bonded quickly with Lily, who loved following her around. When Emily noticed a rash on Lilys cheek, she dealt with it herself, preferring not to involve the nanny. The rash turned out to be allergic dermatitis, likely from a stray piece of food. Agatha swore she hadnt given Lily anything, claiming her nursing courses had taught her otherwise. Tom, meanwhile, dismissed the worry: Dont be ridiculous. Well do allergy tests and sort it out.
Around the same time, Emily finally decided to install a video camera throughout the houseagain, a surprise for Tom. The surprise lived up to its name.
Lily was left mostly unattended while Emily attended university. Tom and Agatha spent time in the bedroom, while Lily roamed the two other rooms, finding snacks like chips that Tom loved and that Agatha also munched on. When Emily returned home, everything was tidied, thanks to Toms effort.
It later emerged that Agatha had once been Harrys university love in his first year, the very woman he left Emily for. After their breakup, she took his documents and turned to babysitting. The tangled past remained a mystery, perhaps a coincidence, perhaps notmaybe someone had nudged Tom toward her.
The flat belonged to Emilys parents, so the couple had to move out. Tom gathered his belongings into a suitcase and left, refusing any apologies. Emily felt nauseated, as though the same old mistakes had struck her again. In that moment she recalled the clumsy but loyal Mark, the one who always tried to cheer her up with his odd jokes.
She called him, but he could only reply, Cant make it, Emily! Im heading to the hospitalmy wife just gave birth to a son. No time for chat! The line went dead. Emily, bewildered, wondered how Mark could have a wife and child when she had never heard of them. Tom, meanwhile, had been promoted and now led a department, but he seemed distant.
Feeling betrayed by everyoneher husband, her oncefriendEmily realized that relying on others left her vulnerable. In the end, she understood that the only steady companion she could count on was herself.
Lesson learned: Trust your own strength first; the world may shift, but your own resolve stays constant.
