Losing the marriage forced me to reconsider what together had come to mean.

A partnership isn’t maintained by one person shrinking until the other has all the room.

I still believe in loyalty.

I still believe in forgiveness when it’s earned.

And I still believe two people can build something extraordinary when they respect each other’s contributions.

I simply no longer mistake silence for loyalty or surrender for love.

The affair was the first truth I uncovered.

It wasn’t the last.

And in the end, the most important secret wasn’t what Mark had hidden in our accounts or what Brenda had left in his car.

It was the strength I’d stopped allowing myself to see.

THE END.