**A Shortened Life is a Lost Life**
When Tessa showed her wedding photos to friends, shed always say,
*Goodness, I suffered in that dress! Beautiful, yesbut so heavy and cumbersome! Next time I marry, Ill pick something light and airy.*
Everyone assumed she was jokingand laughed along. Tessa *was* joking. They knew shed married for love. It was a classic holiday romance: Tessa at 21, Oliver at 28.
August, the gentle sea, sparkling wine, starry nightsall the right ingredients led straight to the registry office. Of course, Oliver had to divorce his second wife first, and Tessa had to move to his hometown.
*London to Brighton to London*that route would become painfully familiar to Tessa for the next decade.
Early on, the young couple rented a place. Oliver had given his flat to his second wife, whod threatened to swallow pills, douse wife number three in acid, or jump out a window if he didnt return. Over time, though, she quieted downmaybe Oliver promised to come back? His first wife was a topic he avoided. That marriage lasted a year and a half before they split. Soon after, hed happily handed her off to a friend, pleased with his matchmaking.
Wife number two lasted longerthree yearsbefore Oliver realised her true nature. A narrow-minded woman who refused to have *human offspring* (her words).
None of this bothered Tessa. She was self-assured, ambitious, confident in her beauty and uniqueness. Oliver adored her. Flowers came by the armful; fur coats arrived in triplicate. Shoes? She could change them daily. He whisked her off to Rome, Paris, even the Scottish Highlandsbroadening her horizons before their first child arrived.
Soon, little Emily was born. While Tessa nursed her, Oliver bought a cottage and furnished it lovinglyall for his girls.
They celebrated moving in. Emily started nursery.
Tessa threw herself into studyingthough she preferred doing it in *London*. Friends, her mum, even strangers there felt warm and familiar. Under familiar oaks, she felt at peace.
Emily stayed with her doting grandmother while Tessa attended lectures. Oliver, jealous, kept appearing unannounced*accidentally* running into her in another city! Not that Tessa gave him reason to worry or so it seemed.
Truth was, she longed to escape domestic life. Shed study forever if it meant no dishes, no floors, no husband or child to care for. Life was shortwhy waste it on trivialities when she was meant for more?
Soon, Tessa had three red-ribboned diplomas in her handbagpsychology her main field. She carried them everywhere, job-hunting eagerly. Oliver objected:
*Do we need the money? Ill go mad waiting for you! Tess, lets have anothera son or daughter, I dont mind. Just stay with me.*
But Tessa saw no more children in her future. Shed done her duty: given Oliver a daughter, given Emily life. What more was there? Her mother-in-law, hearing her lofty excuses, offered to raise Emily full-time.
*Youre too busy for her, love. She needs someones heart, not your head in the clouds.*
Tessa agreed without hesitationand fled to London without telling Oliver. *Ill call from there,* she decided.
But Oliver was already in London, wise to her tricks.
*Tess, wheres Emily? Why are you here? Is there someone else?*
*No admirers, Ollie. Im just bored with you. I want freedom.*
*Freedom? From me and Emily? Wheres the love gone? Is this a midlife crisis? Well get through it!*
*We wont.*
Oliver begged her mother for help. She shrugged.
*Cant sway her, son. Shes stubborn as stone.*
He returned to Brighton alone, baffled. *After all Ive given, this is my reward?*
Days passed. Weeks. Tessa never came back, answering calls with a curt *Im fine.*
Finally, Oliver sold the cottage, took Emily, and moved to Londonto save his family.
Tessa was cold to the idea. *Why upset Emily? New school, leaving friends Her gran wont approve.*
Excuses. She was drunk on freedom, running a dressmaking business, renting a flat, juggling suitors. Why return to husband and child? That life felt like someone elses.
Oliver ignored her, clinging to hope. He met Tessa after work, brought Emily (her mirror image). Useless. Tessa was a statueunmoved. Finally, she ended it:
*Oliver, leave me be. Lets divorce. Emily can stay with me.*
But Emily was 11she didnt need shelter. She had a devoted father and a grandmother praying nightly for her. She remembered her mother. Loved her. But why had she chosen to vanish?
Time rolled on, relentless.
Oliver stopped *fishing on dry land.* Hed never reach Tessas heart.
Fate gave him a plain, grounded woman. No grand trips or furs for herjust wellies for muddy walks and a warm coat for tending animals. Peace, comfort, warmth at last. Soon, a daughter was born. True happinesson the fourth try.
Tessa lives with her mother now. A business partner fleeced her, her dressmaking venture collapsed, her suitors vanished. She works as a school counsellorall that studying finally useful. Regrets? Who knows? The souls depths are unfathomable. Maybe even a *bird of the air* like Tessa feels a pang someday.
Emily, grown now, married in Brightonwearing the light, airy dress her mother gave her.
