“Enough!” Christopher exclaimed. Rose started at the exclamation, and even Christopher was caught by surprise.
He did not mean to shout, but he was struggling to contain himself… which itself was a problem, because if there was one thing that Christopher was an expert in, it was controlling his emotions.
He took a deep breath to calm his breathing, but could still not bring himself to look at Rose. He feared what would happen if he did. Not only would he likely break, because he had no doubt that she was terrified and confused, and all he would want to do was go to her and assure her that there was nothing to fear.
But he worried that if he met her eyes, she would see the truth staring her in the face. And once she saw that truth, no lie told would make a difference.
I can still save this… I can still make her believe that what she saw is not what she thinks. But to do that…
A cold shudder ran through Christopher’s body when he realized what he had to do. The only thing that he could do…
It was not what he wanted to do, but what he had to do. He just prayed that in time, Rose would forgive him, because he certainly would not forgive himself.
“I am afraid that this isn’t going to work.” Christopher looked ahead as he spoke, forcing himself not to meet Rose’s eyeline.
“I… I don’t understand.”
He sighed loudly. “Rose, this entire marriage is based on a mutual trust. A trust that you have just broken.”
“No!” Rose cried out. “Christopher, please!” She went to him, grabbing at his arm to try and force him to look at her.
He snatched his arm back. “You did not want to marry me in the first place. I certainly did not want to marry you…” He saw her wince out of the corner of his eyes, but he kept his stare ahead so as not to look at her. “And for a time, it worked. It worked because we trusted one another.”
“It’s about more than that,” she tried desperately. “You know that it is.”
“No…” He shook his head. “That is all it is about. You needed something from me, I needed something from you, and that is where it ended.”
“Christopher… what are you… What are you saying?”
“You have not made it easy on me,” he continued, keeping his voice level and steady. “From day one, you have done everything in your power to try to negate that trust. You have purposefully tried to upset me, precisely because you wanted me to end things.”
“No…” She sniffed back tears, and he could see her body trembling. “That… things have changed since then. You know that they have.”
“I thought they had,” he said. “Now, I know that nothing will change.”
“Christopher…”
“I have much to think about.” He straightened and turned from her. “But it feels to me that this right now is a perfect time to do what we always knew we would, one way or the other. Honestly, I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. For that, we should be proud.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that this marriage has reached its natural end.”
Rose gasped and stumbled back.
“I will leave for a few days…”More like I will run…“During which time, I will consider the next action to take. But my feeling is…” A pain started to grow in his throat, and he swallowed itback. “My feeling is that this marriage will be over for the two of us. That an annulment will be needed, which I expect the two of us to sign without –”
“Wait!” Rose rushed to him and took his arm. She tried to pull him into her, body shaking and tears streaming down her face. “Christopher, you do not need to do this.”
“I do.”
“I did not see anything!” she tried desperately. “I… I don’t even know what… I don’t even know what is happening. Please!”
“You know what is happening.” Still, he could not bring himself to look at her. “And quite frankly, Rose, I would have thought you’d be happy.”
Christopher looked ahead, his stare landing on the roses that Rose bought for him. He kept his eyes trained on them, forcing himself to look at those roses and nothing else. He could not afford to look at his wife because to see her… he knew that if he did, he would break.
Thankfully, his coolness and detachment were enough to convince Rose that trying to argue or beg would make no difference.
