The Other Mrs.

by Mary Kubica

How well we think we know those closest to us. And then, what a shock to the system it is to find out we don’t know them at all.

“You don’t deserve to live,” I say, feeling empowered because there’s no tremor, no shaking in my voice as I say it.

Will stole many years from my life. He stole my happiness and made me do reprehensible things. It’s taken time, but I’m finding ways to forgive myself for all that I have done. Will broke me at first. But in the process of healing, I’ve become a stronger, more confident version of myself than I used to be. In the aftermath of Will’s exploitation and his abuse, I’ve discovered the woman I was always meant to be, a woman I can be proud of, a woman my children can look up to and admire. I now know what true happiness is.

If time can turn something so undesired into something so loved, the same can happen to all of us. The same can happen to me. It’s happening already.