Chapter 7
I froze, rooted in place, as a little girl came bounding out of the hut behind me. With pigtails swinging and a round, mischievous face, she ran straight into my arms, squeezing me tightly and shouting, “Mama!”
James‘ s expression went rigid. His gaze flickered to the girl and a storm seemed to brew in his eyes. “Who… is this?” he demanded, barely able to keep his voice level.
Feeling the warmth of the girl clinging to me,
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I quickly snapped back to my senses. “This is my husband’s daughter,” I said, as calmly as I could manage.
The lie spilled out before I had a chance to think it through. I told him how I’d met a kind man in town, how we fell in love at first sight and how, within weeks, we‘ d married, blending our lives and me accepting the child from his previous marriage as my own. It was a flimsy story, one that any rational person might scoff at, but James stood frozen, his eyes narrowing as he took in the girl’s clingy affection and the way she called me
“Mama.” Slowly, his fists clenched,
knuckles whitening as he fought to keep his emotions from boiling over.
Without another word, he gave me a long, piercing look, then turned sharply and left
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the courtyard.
As the gate clicked shut behind him, the little girl burst into giggles, covering her mouth with both hands like she’d just heard the best joke of her life. “Nadine,” she whispered, eyes glinting with mischief, “was that the ‘Uncle James‘ you told the director about?”
I laughed, giving her a light tap on the head. “Eavesdropping on my phone calls again, are you? Just wait until I send you back to the orphanage after summer. I’ll make sure the director knows you need a lesson in good manners.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, then scampered off, her laughter trailing behind her like the most innocent melody in the world.
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The next morning, I noticed some activity next door. Workers were hauling furniture and boxes into the small, vacant cottage beside mine. My heart sank as I realized what it meant. Later that afternoon, there was a knock at my door. I opened it to find James standing there, his expression both determined and frustrated.
“Where is he?” he asked, his tone more direct than I’d expected.
I took a deep breath, deciding it was time to end the farce. “There is no husband, James. I’m not married. And the girl? She‘ s from the orphanage, here for a summer stay.”
He studied me, his face unreadable and then nodded slowly. “I knew it was a lie.” He sounded almost… relieved, yet the hope in
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his eyes hardened into something much darker. His hand closed over mine and he stepped closer, voice lowering as he spoke.
“Nadine, I came here because I need you to come back with me.”
My heart clenched at his words and I shook my head, firm but calm. “James, it’s over. There’s nothing left between us. You can’t keep doing this.”
A flicker of pain crossed his face, but he tightened his grip. “Nothing left? I came here to tell you the truth, to explain
everything that happened. I was forced to be with Sandra, to pretend she mattered to
you. And now that everything is out in the open, can‘ t
protect us, to shield my family and
we just start over?”
His plea cut through the cold air and for a
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moment, I nearly believed it. But then, every memory surged back, bringing with it the pain, the humiliation, the unbearable moments of being under his control. I forced myself to pull away from him, the ache inside me turning to steel.
“Start over?” I repeated, barely able to hide the bitterness in my voice. “James, after everything you put me through, do you think that’s even possible?”
His jaw tensed, the vulnerability in his eyes quickly shifting to frustration. “I didn’t put you through anything on purpose! You have to understand–I was trying to protect you, Nadine. Sandra and her family-”
I cut him off, my voice unsteady but resolute.
“Protect me? By controlling every inch of my life. by making me feel like a prisoner? Bv…
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by ignoring what I went through, letting me suffer just to keep up some twisted facade?”
For the first time, his defiance faltered, his eyes lowering as he seemed to search for an answer. But when he looked up, I could see he was still struggling to see beyond his own sense of righteousness.
“I thought you would understand,” he said quietly, a wounded look in his eyes.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Understand? James, you never put me on equal footing with you. Not once. You kept secrets, used force, all in the name of some ‘protection‘ that I never asked for.” I felt my voice rising, but I didn’t care. “You talk about love as if it’s just about keeping me close, as if that would erase everything I lost–my freedom,
my
child. Don’t try to tell me it was for my
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He paled at my words, the impact hitting him like a blow. Yet, even as his face softened with regret, he stepped forward again, trying one last time. “But I loved you, Nadine. That was real.”
The weight of everything he’d put me through settled over me like a heavy fog. I looked at him, really looked at him–the man I’d once loved, the man who’d stripped away every piece of me until there was almost nothing left.
“Your love,” I whispered, “is something I don’t care for anymore. Everything you‘ ve done in its name… it’s something I don’t need in my life.”
I watched as he struggled to respond, as if the
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truth were something ne couldn t bear to
face. I turned my back to him, feeling the finality of my words sink in.
“James,” I said, my voice quiet but firm.
“Leave. Don’t come back. You took too much from me and I’m not going to let you take anything more.”
His silence was the only response. When I turned around, he was gone and the door was shut, closing off the last chapter of our story.
