My hair was unwashed.
My eyes were swollen from exhaustion.
One baby was crying in my arms.
Another was fussing in a bassinet.
The third was asleep against my shoulder.
Ethan folded a shirt.
I looked at him and realized something.
I wasn’t angry anymore.
I was done asking.
He had already made his decision.
So I made mine.
I waited until he went to sleep.
My Quiet Decision
Around midnight, the house finally became silent.
I checked on the babies.
Then I walked to the guest bedroom.
Ethan’s suitcase was beside the door.
I stood there for a long time.
I knew exactly what I was about to do.
I wasn’t going to destroy anything.
I wasn’t going to hurt him.
I wasn’t going to put anything dangerous in his luggage.
I simply wanted him to experience, for once, the consequences of his own behavior.
I opened the suitcase.