I Found a Note in My Husband’s Shirt That Said, ‘Please Don’t Let Her Find Out’

I thought about Allison. I thought about the calm way she spoke. I thought about Serenity, and how she saw something I had missed.

That frightened me more than the affair itself.

And I thought about myself: Not as Ron’s wife. Not as someone wronged. Just as Delilah.

The next morning, I packed a small bag while Ron stood in the doorway watching me.

“How long will you be gone?”

“Long enough to remember who I was before I learned how to be quiet for you,” I said.

He didn’t stop me. He didn’t deserve to. I wasn’t confused about what he’d done — only about how long I’d lived beside it.

As I closed the door behind me, I wasn’t leaving my marriage in anger.

I was leaving it with my dignity intact, something I had spent years preserving for everyone but myself.