This story was originally posted under my previous screen name RomanticLoneWolf.
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I didn't mean for it to happen. Sometimes things just get beyond our control and nothing you can do will change them.
My wife and I married young. I was twenty, and Kassie was just turning nineteen, but we'd been an item more or less since we were kids, and as cheesy as it sounds, we had a bond like you would only see in a fairy tale. Which makes what happened only more disheartening.
We were childhood friends turned high school sweethearts, and part of what made our relationship so strong was the fact we'd been there for each other through some pretty tough times. Kassie was a bright light for me when my parents divorced, and I helped to pick both her and her mother up when Kassie's father, Jack, was killed in a car accident. But, I guess in the end, even the strongest bonds have their weaknesses.
The first ten years of our marriage were amazing. We both worked hard to put ourselves through college. I went into engineering, while Kassie went the distance with veterinarian school. By the time things began to change, she'd started her own practice specializing in horse medicine. She was good, and before long my wife was highly sought after in the racehorse community. This would open the door for Kassie to gain a lot of high-profile connections, and eventually lead to her having to travel all over the country regularly.
Because of my career path, I couldn't travel with my wife very often, and over time this arrangement began to cause a void between us. Kassie felt I was choosing my job over her. A supportive husband, she often said, would make a change for his wife's dream. What she never considered, and what I was unable to convey to Kassie was that the very thing she accused me of doing to her, was exactly what she was doing to me. In her success, my wife had lost sight of the fact that marriage is a partnership and that it's up to both spouses to compromise or make sacrifices, not just the one. The only saving grace that kept us together was Kassie's mother, Beth.
When I would have trouble getting through to Kassie, her mother could always pick up the baton and get Kassie to see reason. Beth was the rare mother-in-law that could see things for what they were with an unbiased eye and take action decisively, even if it meant backing me over her own daughter; which started to happen more frequently towards the end. But despite her best efforts, the woman wasn't a miracle worker. One evening as I was gathering my stuff up to head home from work, a woman approached me in the parking lot.
"Will Daniels?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered somewhat cautiously.
"I've been hired to deliver these documents to you," the woman continued as she handed me a manila envelope. "Off the record, I just want to say how sorry I am about this."
I took the envelope, not immediately understanding what was happening.
"You have a good evening, Mr. Daniels," she said as she turned and walked away.
As I watched her depart, a dreadful sense of realization began to dawn on me. In a daze, I opened the door and got in my truck, placing the unopened envelope on the passenger seat. I was certain what the documents were without the need to look; my wife of almost twelve years was divorcing me.
I spent the next several hours just driving around, thinking about how this all had gone down. Kassie had been gone for about two weeks, and everything about this trip had been different. She'd been extremely hard to contact, and it had been a couple of days since I'd heard from her at all. In the past, Kassie would call around lunchtime, unless things were busy, and we always talked in the evening. This time, however, things had been more sporadic; and the few times we had talked, the conversation consisted mostly of silence on Kassie's part. Unfortunately, all of that made perfect sense now. In her mind, Kassie had made a tough choice, and because the marriage was now over for her, she most likely felt there was no need to keep up any pretense.
It wasn't so easy for me. I was certainly heartbroken, but I was furious as well. At one time, the two of us were closer than most married couples today ever thought about being. The fact that Kassie had timed all of this so that she'd be across the country when the other shoe dropped, felt like the ultimate slap in the face. The worst part was that despite all of this, I still loved her, and deep down I knew if she called in the next minute to tell me that she'd made a terrible mistake; I wouldn't hesitate to take her back.
After a while, I decided I couldn't put off going home anymore. It would be hard to go there, a place we'd built together, and even more so to sleep in the bed which we'd shared for a good part of our marriage. At least there was the guest room if need be, but would that even help? I pondered that and replayed the whole messy situation in my head as I started for the house.
Along the way, I contemplated calling my dad. I knew how hard it had been for him when my mom left, and he would understand what I was going through. But at the same time, the man had pushed so hard for Kassie and me not to make the same mistakes he and my mother had, and while Kassie and I had strived to follow his advice; in the end, we'd just made different ones instead. Feeling like I would only disappoint him, I began to set the phone down when it rang. It was Beth.
"Hey kiddo," she said with sorrow through the phone. "How're you doing?"
"To be honest, Beth, it could be better," I told her with forced humor.
She didn't say anything for what felt like a long while, but then, "I reckon it could. Will, honey, I'd like for us to talk. Can you come by?"
I thought about it for a bit. "I don't know," I said finally. "Do you really think that's a good idea? Things have kind of changed a bit."
"Bullshit," Beth spat. "Things between us will never change, and if you're worried about Kassie, don't. I was blindsided by all of this just as much as you were, and I'm willing to bet between the two of us, I was the only one she gave the benefit of a phone call to."
"You're right about that," I said bitterly. "I haven't even heard from her in two days."
"I figured as much," Beth responded. "But as I said, don't worry about Kassie calling or showing up here. We had it out pretty good earlier when she told me what she'd done. After that ass-chewing, I doubt she'll be coming around me anytime soon."
I did genuinely laugh at that.
"I'm sure it was pretty bad," I told Beth grinning.
"Oh, it was," she said with a chuckle. "Trust me on that. You know I'd never agree with what Kassie's pulling, Will. But we'll talk more about that when you get here. Okay?"
"All right," I told her. "I'll see you in a bit."
