He remembered the day.
It had been good.
That was part of what made the decision difficult.
Their relationship had contained real happiness.
It did not follow that the happiness made everything else acceptable.
“Why did you bring this?”
“Because I know he needs reassurance.”
“What would it reassure him about?”
“That we’re a family.”
Elias placed the frame on the table.
“You told him he needed a new one.”
“I phrased it badly.”
“You told him my house needed room. He made a list of his own photographs we could remove.”
Felicity’s face changed.
“He did what?”
“He thought he could trade them for keeping his mother’s picture.”
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “I never wanted that.”
“I believe you didn’t imagine it.”
She looked at him sharply.
“That isn’t the same.”
“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”
Felicity sat down.
She spoke about years of entering relationships where she felt temporary. About arriving in a house where everyone knew the previous woman’s favorite flowers. About wondering whether loving Elias meant spending her life being compared to someone who could no longer disappoint him.
He listened.
When she finished, he answered honestly.
“You should have been able to tell me that.”
“I tried.”
“Then I should have listened better.”
Her shoulders lowered slightly.
He continued.
“But none of that gave you permission to ask my son to carry it.”
She looked at the frame.
“So there’s nothing I can say?”
“There are things you can say that are true. They won’t necessarily give you the outcome you want.”
Felicity began crying.
He did not move closer.
This time, comfort could not come before clarity.
She asked whether they could postpone the wedding.
Get counseling.
Take a holiday without the constant pressure of the house.
“Without Arthur?” Elias asked.
“For a few days. So we can remember who we are together.”
He looked at her for a long time.
Then he shook his head.
“I’m his father when we’re together too.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“I’m not going to separate my life into the part where you feel loved and the part where my son is allowed to have a mother.”
She pressed the tissue against her eyes.
