by Cynthia Sherman

Created on: January 22, 2012   Last Updated: January 24, 2012

It was a painful and bitter break up. She loved him more than life itself and she thought he loved her as well. I guess the saying that appearances can be deceiving is so true. She devoted her life to him putting him upon a pedestal obeying his every wish and command. She worshiped him immensely.

In the beginning they were the all-American couple, or so it seemed. They went everywhere together, did everything together; they were practically joined at the hip. He came from an influential background; she was middle class, a kindergarten teacher. He was a lawyer protecting worker comp victims or patients. She secretly believes that she was beneath him and tried so very hard to live up to his standards. He had high standards. He expected everything to be perfect and in perfect order resulting in a strained marriage behind closed doors.

On the outside all appearances made their friends believe that they were happy with their life. They were the envy of their social circle. Both had Mercedes and lived in a million dollar home. At parties given by others or even themselves, they talked and joked around with everyone and anyone. The kids went to a first class private school costing almost as much a college education and the family dressed in clothes bought from high end boutiques in the city. The perfect life so everyone thought.

Several years later the kids were reaching the teen years; this perfect life came to a screeching halt. He was arrested for assault and attempted murder. She was hurt so badly that she needed emergency surgery to repair the damage. After months of recovery, she filed for divorce wanting to start over with her kids far, far away from the memories of years of abuse both mental and physical at the hands of the man that was supposed to love her, to cherish her, and take care of her forever.

As she was packing up the huge house, she came across the little black dress that started it all. This was the dress she wore on their first date. In fact, it was a gift from him that arrived that very day with a note asking her to wear it that night. She did and this was the dress she wore every year on the anniversary of their first date. That was what he wanted. He wanted to relive that first date every year; to relive her innocence, her sweetness before the kids, before the mortgages, before all of the bad stuff happened.  In his mind that little black dress was the epitome of all that was good.

Trying on the dress before packing it away, she remembered

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