by Vicki Brown

Created on: May 12, 2010

As she walked along the crowded street, she knew they were there. She could feel their presence. Why wouldn’t they leave her alone? She had made her choices maybe not always the best or right choices but it was done. She just wanted to get on with her life.

Why did they follow her silently? If they said something she could explain or defend her actions but they made no noise at all. Except sometimes at night she thought she heard a sigh and felt a puff of air on her cheek.

She wanted to yell at the shadows to go away to stop badgering her. Nothing would be different no matter what she did. It was done. Her life wasn’t perfect but no one has a perfect life. You comprise and you make sacrifices.

Home she thought I have to go home. It’s only there that she could shut them out. It was the only peace she had. Too bad she couldn’t enjoy the peace. When the shadows weren’t plaguing her, her thoughts did.

She heard his key in the door. She smiled. He was the only thing that could make her smile. It was for him that she made sacrifices and shifted her life in a new direction. It was her choice that had let loose the shadows.

It was worth it. When she saw him standing in the doorway smiling at her, the shadows were forgotten. She loved this man more than she thought possible. And, amazingly he loved her too. Really loved her and he showed his love in so many ways. They were very affectionate with each other. On long walks in Central Park, they always held hands and often he would turn and kiss the top of her head.

She had been a good daughter. Her parents had groomed her for life as a corporate wife. She was educated and had made her debut. She could have a good conversation with anyone especially about art or music.

It wasn’t her fault that she had fallen in love with an engineer who rarely left his lab. All that grooming wasted. Her mother had a habit of bringing that up when she was at her lowest. “If you had waited and found a proper young man, you’d have a big house and money for whatever you wanted.” Instead, she had a normal four-bedroom two-bath house and a budget.

She had listened to her brother about how to dress. He was in law school and she was in high school but he had always been the one with all the answers. So she wore what he said to and all her friends had laughed at her.

She had been a good wife. Or tried to be a good wife because she wasn’t sure what that meant. Only that she was supposed

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