Till Your Last Breath

Like any other day, Scarlett came home from college to find a tall glass of iced lemonade waiting for her on the dining table. Her mother had left it there before going out. She always did.

Scarlett dropped her heavy bag onto one chair and sank into the one beside it. For a moment she just sat there, then lifted the glass to her lips with a quiet sort of sadness.

Her mother was almost never home. Vanessa Rowe loved the outside world far more than the walls of her own house. Lunches with friends, weekends in some hotel, trips to some other city, shopping somewhere, anywhere. She was so fond of wandering that she barely noticed her own daughter anymore. Scarlett and her father, William, hated that habit of hers. But what could they do?

Every morning her father dropped her off at college on his way to the office, and every afternoon she came home on the bus. Today was no different.

She finished the lemonade, carried the glass to the kitchen, and left it in the sink. Dinner was already made, sitting on the stove. Even when Vanessa was gone, she remembered these small things. And somehow, it was exactly these small things that kept Scarlett tied to her.

She changed her clothes, ate, and fell asleep.

Nearly two hours later, the sharp click of heels on the floor woke her.

“Get up, darling. Your tutor will be here any minute.”

Scarlett opened her eyes. Her mother was standing by the bed, already picking up her bag from the floor.

“Mum,” she said, sitting up. “Where were you?”

Vanessa paused, then came back and sat beside her.

“I can carry my own bag,” Scarlett muttered.

Her mother smiled, but her eyes slid away from her daughter’s face. “Well then. My girl is very brave, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Very brave. When you’re not here, I run this whole house on my own.”

“Oh, Scarlett. My love. Your complaints never leave me alone.” Vanessa pulled her close and smoothed back her hair. “What am I supposed to do? Fine. I won’t go anywhere again and leave my daughter by herself.”

She said it so sweetly. And she knew, even as she said it, that she would never keep that promise.

Scarlett shook her head and walked off to the bathroom.

She was eighteen now, standing right at the edge of becoming a woman, and somehow she needed her mother more than ever. Every day there was something she wanted to tell her. Something small. Something that mattered.

She washed her face. When she came out, her mother was already gone from the room.

Scarlett wiped her face, took her bag out to the drawing room, and waited. Her tutor had not arrived yet. On the way she glanced towards the kitchen and saw Vanessa standing at the counter, cooking dinner.

Before Laura came, Scarlett went over yesterday’s lesson again. She was good at her studies. Always top of her class, the kind of student teachers remembered. She had big grey eyes that were far too curious for her own good, soft pink lips, and a face full of such innocence that people often forgot she was no longer a child.

She was her father’s darling. And her mother’s too. At least, that was what Vanessa called her.

My love. My darling.

But those were only words. Vanessa had plenty of words and never any time. There were a hundred things Scarlett wanted to tell her mother, and she never could.

Life went on like that.

Until the day William Rowe found out his wife was having an affair.

At first, he didn’t believe it.

Then came the day he caught her.

That afternoon William left the office early. At three o’clock Laura had come to tutor Scarlett, and as always, Vanessa was not home. He sat down on the sofa and opened the location app on his phone, just to check.

The name of a hotel stared back at him.

For a moment, he could not breathe.

He told Scarlett he had some work to take care of and walked out of the house.

The whole way there, he kept praying it wasn’t what he thought. That there was some other explanation. Any other explanation.

At the reception desk he asked for Adrian Cole’s room number. Adrian worked with him. That morning the office gossip had been that Adrian was off to meet some girlfriend of his. William had laughed along with everyone else. Not once had it crossed his mind that the girlfriend could be his own wife.

With his heart pounding against his ribs, he knocked on the door.

A few seconds passed. Then the door opened.

His breath caught in his throat.

Vanessa stood in front of him. She had gone completely still.

“Who is it, Vanessa?”

Adrian came up behind her and saw who was at the door. The color drained from his face.

“Vanessa,” William said, and a bitter smile touched his lips. “I never imagined you could be this cheap.”

“You’ve got it wrong, William; you have to listen to me.” She lunged towards him, but he shoved her hand away.

“No. You could have at least thought about your daughter.”

“Please forgive me, please. I’ll tell you everything, I swear.” Her words were tumbling over each other now. “I didn’t come here on my own. He forced me. He brought me here.”

Adrian stood frozen, staring at her in disbelief as she turned on him in a heartbeat.

“Really?” William’s voice was ice. He caught her arm and looked at the marks on her skin. “Then what are these? Did he force these on you too?”

He flung her arm away as if it burned him.

“I won’t have you in my house for one more minute. Go straight to your parents’ place.”

“William, please. Please. I’m begging you. Forgive me just this once.”

“This isn’t a mistake, Vanessa. This is something I can never forgive. And I will not let your shadow fall on my daughter ever again.”

He turned towards the door.

“You’ll have the divorce papers soon.”

He gave Adrian one last look full of contempt, then walked away.

His heart, which had been hammering all the way there, had gone strangely quiet. All he could think about now was Scarlett.

When he got home, Laura was still there. Seeing him, she packed up her things and left.

“What happened?” Scarlett asked, gathering her books. “Dad, didn’t Mum come back with you?”

“No. She’s not coming back.”

Her hands went still. “Why? Why isn’t she coming?”

“Your mum has gone to your grandparents’ house. She doesn’t want to live with us anymore.”

“But why? Why wouldn’t she want to?” Worry filled her face. “She won’t even want to see us?”

“She just doesn’t.” He looked away. “Did you finish your work?”

“Yes.” Her voice was barely there.

That night was long for both of them. But for Scarlett, it felt like a night that would never end.

The next morning her father made breakfast with his own hands. Then he dropped her at college and drove straight to his lawyer. By evening the papers were ready, and instead of going home, he drove to Vanessa.

She cried. She begged. She pleaded for hours. But for his daughter’s sake, William swallowed every bitter word and did not bend. He would not let a woman like that raise his child. He wanted to keep Scarlett away from all of it, safe and untouched, like a flower that never lost its fragrance.

“Sign it,” he said, dropping the papers in front of her. “Or I’ll have my lawyer do this the hard way.”

“William, please. I can’t live without my daughter.”

“You won’t be living with her either way. Sign it. Now.”

His voice did not waver once.

“I won’t sign.” She grabbed the file and hurled it across the room.

“Fine. Don’t.” His eyes turned to stone. “I’m telling you now, with a clear head and every bit of my sense. It’s over, Vanessa. As of tonight, you are nothing to me. You’re not my wife anymore.”

He said it once.

Then again.

“You’re not my wife anymore.”

The ground seemed to slip from under Vanessa’s feet. Her legs gave way, and she sank slowly to the floor.

Her daughter had been taken from her forever.

And the man who had been her husband had just become a stranger.