David, are you serious? Those awful roses again? Hester snarls, eyeing the bouquet. I’ve told you a hundred times I love peonies. Peonies, understand? Do you even listen to me? What are you listening to, then?
David freezes in the doorway. His cheeks blush, and his eyes flash that guilty, bewildered look that says he’ll do anything for her smile.
I’m sorry, love, Ill remember. Next time Ill bring peonies, I promise.
Hester carelessly drops the bouquet on the kitchen table without even sniffing it. The roses are lovelyfull, burgundy, with tiny beads of water on the petals
Olivia Clarke remembers the first time her daughter brought David home. He was tall, broadshouldered, with an open face and calloused handsa civil engineer. David looks at Hester as if she were the greatest wonder in the world. Thomas, her husband, nods approvingly behind his wifes back: A solid bloke, serious enough.
The first year and a half pass smoothly. David drives Hester to the Cornish coast, buys her jewellery for no particular reason, and patiently listens to endless stories about friends and colleagues. But Olivia begins to notice something odd: Hester starts talking about him dismissively, sometimes with a thinly veiled boredom, even contemptDavid brought a cake, can you believe it? Im on a diet. He calls again, clings like a barnacle. She sifts through his gifts as if they were a tax, not tokens of affection.
In the second year the arguments start. Actually, Hester starts them. Shes terribly bored.
Do you even love me? Really? she asks repeatedly, usually in the evening. It doesnt feel that way.
Hester, Ive been at work all day
Exactly! All day somewhere else while Im here alone! Maybe youve got someone else?
David apologises, explains, swears. Hester broods for a day or two, then forgives him graciously. He brings flowers, the book she wanted, theatre tickets. The world resetsuntil the next fight.
Anything becomes a trigger. You didnt say that. You looked at me the wrong way. You forgot to like my photo. You stayed late at the office. You replied too quicklymust have been on your phone instead of work. You replied too slowlymust be ignoring me.
Thats it! Were done! the line repeats far too often.
Each time David is the first to beg forgiveness. Hester holds the silence for a day, three days, a week. Then she thaws.
One evening Olivia asks gently:
Hester, do you really love him? Or is it just convenient?
Hester snorts.
Mum, what are you on about? Of course I love him. He can be a pest, but Im tired, thats all.
Five years whirl by in this strange dance: passion, scandal, breakup, reconciliation. Davids temples grey, though he isnt even thirty. He loses weight, smiles less, but he hangs on. Why? Olivia cant tell. Perhaps hope, perhaps faith that things will finally settle down.
In the sixth year he proposes.
The ring is simplea thin gold band with a clear diamond. David plans everything: books a table at a respectable restaurant in Bath, arranges for a string quartet, even writes a speech on a scrap of paper that he later reads out, embarrassed.
Hester says yes as if it were just another dessert with her coffeenothing spectacular. She puts the ring on, snaps a photo for Instagram, calls her friends.
Olivia hugs David tightly, motherly:
David, Im delighted. Truly delighted.
Thomas shakes his hand:
Welcome to the family, officially now.
Wedding preparations begin at once. Hester takes charge: selects a dress from a boutique, hires a photographer whos shot celebrity shoots, orders live orchids for the tables. David nods at everything, signs off on every whim. He wants the day perfect for his future wife.
A month before the date everything collapses.
What is this? Hester points at the printed menu. Rainbow? You really chose Rainbow?
The foods great, Hester. We tried it, you liked it.
Liked it? I asked for White Garden with a terrace and river view! Not some greasy eatout!
There are no slots left on our date. The venues already booked.
And you should have sorted it! Offered money! But you just just! Hester fumes. Thats it! The weddings off! Im done!
She throws the menu on the floor and storms out. The usual script would have David linger, apologise, and Hester soften after a few days. This time he simply doesnt apologise. He looks exhausted.
The next day David comes for his things. Hester watches him pack his razor, charger, and a sweater from the wardrobe.
Are you serious? she cant believe it. Youre just leaving like that? Abandoning me?
David zips his bag, looks at her long, expression unreadable.
Be happy, Hester. Really
And he walks out.
Hester waits a week, then two. Her phone stays silent. No texts, no calls, no surprise visits. She opens a new chat with him a few timescursor blinking in an empty fieldbut says nothing. Pride holds her back. David always returns first. He always did.
A month passes.
Maybe hes sick? Hester paces the kitchen. Or on a business trip? Should I call him?
Olivia quietly stirs the stew.
Mum, say something!
What can I say, Hester? You let him gohes gone.
I didnt let him go! I just
What?
Hester freezes, speechless.
Two months later Hesters colleague from accounts, Sophie, drops a comment over lunch:
I saw your David yesterday. He was with a girlpretty, blond.
Hester drops her fork.
With who?!
I dont know. Newlook, laughing, holding hands it was cute.
That night Hester rummages through his social media. His profile is publicshe forced him to switch off privacy years ago. No new photos, but a new friend appears: Katherine Shaw. A tidy profile of landscapes and cats. The avatar shows a twentyfiveyearold woman with a soft smile.
Hester scrolls until three in the morning.
Olivia watches her daughter change. The confident edge fades, a cold sarcasm replaces it. Hester loses weightnot the healthy kind, but a gaunt, unhealthy look. Dark circles settle under her eyes. Irritability sits on the brink of hysteria.
Its all his fault! Hester blasts at her parents. Six years! Six years of my life and he just walks away for some insignificant mouse!
You pushed him away, dear, Olivia says quietly.
Thats different!
How so?
Hester cant answer.
A year slips by, both invisible and crushing. Hester tracks Davids life through her phone: him and Katherine at a barbecue, at a concert, a caption reads Moved in!a shared flat, a joint life. Then a photo of a ring on a slender finger, captioned I said yes! with three hearts.
Olivia stumbles upon the post while scrolling. Katherine beams, David smiles, his eyes lively againjust as they were before the joy was slowly drained from him.
Well done, David, Olivia thinks. Finally.
Meanwhile Hester tries new relationships. Ian lasts four monthsends after a fight over being late to a friends birthday. Simon sticks around two monthsflees when Hester stages a scene in a restaurant in front of his colleagues.
All men are the same! Hester rants to her mothers kitchen. Unreliable, selfish!
Thomas mutes his meatball in silence. Olivia refills her tea, pondering how odd life can be. Hester flips through her phone, repeatedly returning to strangers happy pictures.
Olivia smiles. Shes relieved David escaped Hesters grip. Yes, Hester is her daughter, but Olivia knows her temperament well.
At a family dinner Hester puts on an old record.
At least David was patient. And these they never listen, they get offended instantly!
Maybe its not them? Thomas suggests softly.
Dad, what do you mean?
He shrugs.
Just saying, the third bloke this year walks out. Strange coincidence.
Hester flares.
So its my fault, right?!
Her parents stay quiet. Sometimes silence says more than words.
Later, Olivia thinks about how to explain the obvious to her daughter: love isnt a game where you can keep hitting save and return to a convenient moment. Patience isnt infinite. Manipulation corrodes trust slowly, like rust eating metal.
And Hester blames the world for its unfairness, waiting for a prince on a white horsesomeone who will tolerate her whims forever.
Olivia washes the last plate, puts it away, and looks through the open door at her daughter glued to her phone, scrolling through other peoples lives. She knows Hester has seen pictures of David and Katherine, their happy faces, their loving glances. Olivia herself has been watching Davids life.
Thirty years ago Olivia first held her tiny daughter in her arms and swore to protect her from every hardship. Yet Hester has sentenced herself to loneliness. To be happy, she will have to change, or she will never know what it feels like to be a wife and a mother.
