Scarlett isn't sure her life could fall any further apart. On the morning her husband, Captain James Tamworth admits to cheating on her, she's diagnosed with cancer.
In the midst of caring for their two small children, battling through her health t...
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My husband, Captain James Tamworth, a paratrooper, was a man who lived life to the fullest. The moment he walked into a room, it lit up, but the army tampered down on his joy. It sucked away all of his happiness to leave a shell of his former self.
They say marriage takes work. That it's not all roses and sunshine, and it's true, but the way my marriage is now feels so broken it may never fix. We are so very different—Chalk and cheese at it's finest.
I always said I would stick out the bad times and work through them, but I refuse to put up with this.
"Scarlett," James begs for the sixth time since admitting his betrayal, having to shout in pain when he lowers to the ground to grab my trousers in his hands.
It's funny how it's taken him ripping my heart right out of my chest to get him to show any form of affection.
I point in his face because I know he hates it. "The moment you stick your dick in another woman, it's over. Finished. Never coming back."
"No," he half-cries, half-growls. "Please, please don't leave me. I'm so sorry!"
My feet shuffle back to get away from him, but he follows. "Oh, you're sorry, are you? Don't you think it's funny how you went all the way and didn't once feel sorry until you got home and told me? You had plenty of time to stop, you know?"
The wild look he's giving me does absolutely nothing. "I don't know what came over me. Fucking hell. When I woke up an realised. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please!"
"Get out," I say, yanking away from him so he falls onto his palms. "Leave. I don't want you here."
"No," he says, using the couch to pull himself up. "Scarlett, darling, please just hear me out."
I turn away from him and head out of the room at the sounds of tiny feet on the staircase. Elsie, our four-year old daughter, is using the banister railings to make her way down here.
"Good morning," I sing, taking a few steps to grab her. "Did you sleep well, baby?"
She rubs at her eyes. "Yeah."
I kiss her messy hair and aim for the kitchen just as a shrill cry echoes from upstairs. James makes his way to the staircase and I don't have much time to stop him when Elsie starts complaining she's hungry.
"Can I have Coco Pops?" she asks, insisting on pulling them out of the cupboard.
I get her a bowl and grab some milk to pour into a little glass so she can add as much as she wants and sit her at the dinner table. I'm distracted by her using her hands to shovel in the cereal for a second until Lucas's whimpers force me to turn around.
James is cuddling our squidgy baby with a lost expression, passing him over to me so I can sit across from Elsie to feed him. I snatch the feeding cloth from James when he gives it over, staring holes into the table to avoid him.
