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“Julia,” I start once the tone alerts me to start speaking. “You haven't been home for the past three days. This is beyond ridiculous. Just because of what? A fucking wedding?” I pause, trying to calm myself down. “Please, pick up your goddamn phone so we can talk.”
I hang up and let out a sigh. Julia has been living at her mother’s place since we had the blow up argument once I discovered she manipulated the prosecutor––her old friend from college––into dropping all the charges against our son’s whore of a fiancée, Roxanne. I also uncovered the information that it was Elise, my own daughter for fuck’s sake, and that idiot Johan who convinced her to do so. My entire family is turning against me one by one, but Julia… I can’t believe she would side with them against me and the rest of our children.
I thought she was on my side no matter what. Oh, how very wrong I was, because even now, I have a glimmer of hope that she will still come back to me and drop all this nonsense.
Choosing to stick with Elise and Andries means my wife has left not only myself, but Hannah, Joris, Aleida, and little Arthur at the Van den Bosch estate without her. As mad as I am right now, I still miss her every minute that she’s absent. It’s as if my world is turned upside down, and I don't know how to fix it. All I know is that I need to talk to Julia and try to find a way to make things right between us. But first, I need her to pick up the phone and talk to me.
I’m interrupted from my thoughts by a single knock on the door before Hannah lets herself in.
“Dad…” she starts as she walks slowly in my direction. “Are we not going to the wedding? I thought you’d have come around by now.”
Despite her soft tone, the simple thought of that wedding makes me frown and I wave my hand dismissively. “If you want to go, by all means, it’s tomorrow at 2 pm and I can arrange a way for you to get there. The entire stupid affair is at your grandmother Margaret’s estate.”
“I didn’t say ‘me’, I said ‘we’. What about you?” she presses, now standing tall in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I’m staying here,” I answer firmly, leaning back in my chair. “I thought you knew.”
My daughter is clearly upset, throwing her hands in the air and groaning. “Dad, come on, this is ridiculous,” she tells me, her voice rising.
“What is ridiculous is what your mom has been doing to us. She left out of the blue. And for what? To watch your brother screw up his life?” I retort, bitterness in my voice.
Hannah isn’t done, though, and putting her hands on her hips she glares at me, before saying, “Wasn’t Oma Margaret the one who thought Mom was also screwing her life by marrying you?” she reminds me just as fast. “Doesn’t that make you a hypocrite if you protest what Andries is doing?”
Now I sit up straight, shocked. “How do you even know that?”
“I’ve got my ways.” Hannah raises her eyebrows, challenging me to refute her statement, but what’s the point? What she’s saying is the truth. Margaret has never been a fan of me, and after this debacle, it’s doubtful she ever will be.
Instead I tell her, “It’s very different, Hannah. Your grandmother was just worried because your mom was fairly young and I was much older.”
“Doesn’t seem much different to me,” she says, shrugging. “Dad, if you still love Mom, please, put your pride aside and let’s go to the wedding tomorrow.”
“I refuse to go to that sham of a wedding. Your mom must understand where I’m coming from. She’ll forgive me once it’s all said and done.”
Hannah huffs, and before I can ask her to leave, my daughter drops a bombshell on me. “According to what Elise told me, Mom’s considering a divorce.”
“A divorce?” I repeat, incredulous. “What the hell do you mean a divorce?”
“If you don’t know what it means, look it up,” she snaps before disappearing out the door in a cloud of long hair and attitude.
I’m left alone in my study, reeling from this new information, feeling like my stomach has dropped out of me.
A divorce? After more than twenty years of marriage? The thought of losing Julia fills me with dread. She’s been my rock… my everything. And now she's considering leaving me.
I pour myself a drink, trying to make sense of it all. How did we get here? It feels like just yesterday that we were madly in love, building a life and a family together. And now, here we are, on the brink of losing it all.
I can’t go to that wedding, though, that’s non-negotiable.
I take a sip of my whiskey and try to calm myself. I need to think rationally and figure out what my next move should be. How do I save my marriage and keep my pride and company intact, all at the same time?
I’m overcome by a sense of emptiness. I know I need to make a choice, but I'm not sure I’m ready for the consequences of whichever path I choose. All I know is that I need to talk to Julia, to try and understand what’s going on with her and if there’s anything I can do to fix this without going against everything I believe in.
Knowing I really need to consider every variable, I settle into my deep red leather armchair, nursing my whiskey, my beautiful, frustrating wife on my mind.
Ah, Julia, sweet Julia… She came into my life and turned it upside down. I have never been the type to be pushed around. On the contrary, I’m known for sticking to my word, to my gut feeling, until the very end.
I know that going to that wedding tomorrow will be the ultimate humiliation. I can’t bear the thought of facing everyone, especially Margaret, and having them see me as a defeated man. They will all know I stood my ground for so long, risked so much, and still folded in the end. At the same time, I can’t bear the thought of losing Julia.
I take a sip of my whiskey and let out a deep sigh. This is going to be a long night.
