I Worked Nights and Nursed My Husband Through Cancer – The Week He Was Declared Cancer-Free, He Asked for a Divorce, but His Doctor Stopped Me and Said, ‘There’s Something You Should Know’

Theo wasn’t cruel. That almost would have been easier.

He had simply stopped seeing me.

A week earlier, I’d told him, “I miss you.”

“I’m right here.”

After that, I stopped trying.

Then cancer arrived, and there was no room left for pretending.

***

“You got sick, and we started talking again.”

“About everything, Theo. We laughed again.”

“Because everything was awful.”

“You reached for me.”

“Because I needed you.”

I stepped closer.

“You’re turning every good thing we found again into a symptom.”

His eyes filled.

“You were leaving me.”

“Yes. But then I almost lost you.”

“And that made you feel guilty.”

“How do I know?”

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

So I left.

***

My mother, Lydia, opened the door in slippers and her old green cardigan.