He Played Her False: She Played Her Way Out

ng, the air thick with the sce

my Juilliard training reduced to being a pretty prop for my husban

een buried under Mrs. Wesley Leste

. It was my soul, the only part of me that was still mine. Wesley never t

nager, stepped towards the microphone. She looked pale, fragile,

t loud enough for the microphone to pick up, "c

ingle thought, he turned, grabbed my cello by the neck-not the c

his for a sec

e was handing it to her like it was a coat. Gabrielle fumbled with it, her lacquer

w the entirety of my marriage. The neglect. The dismissal. The absolute certainty tha

The decision wasn't a storm of anger. It was

I was filing

droom and pulled out my suitcases. The scratch on my cello was a deep, searing lin

e the damage, not to ask if

" he asked, his voic

y," I said, my voic

g a foreign language. "Done with what? Because of the cell

. You know what it means to me." I pointed to the instrument, now resting on its sta

didn't understand that the scratch was just the final, visible

door, the wheels rumbling against t

his voice dropping to a dangerous wh

tch

's not about you right now. Gabrielle is very upset. Th

He wasn't apologizin

f strained patience. "The Hendersons. They're crucial. Gabrielle thinks it would

mer I was supposed to be at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. I had turned down that once-in-a-l

a poisoned carrot, "I'll fund that little

m and use it as a tranquilizer for the woman he was sacrif

o cry. I looked at him, at this s

" I wh

etween my knees, and played. The notes of the Bach suite filled the room, a story of pain and resilienc

stunned silence, followed by applause. I felt a f

, a

with a strange intensity, swayed o

nt, abandoning a conversation with

d, his hip knocked against a heavy silver tray on a nearby table.

tly o

l sound. The hot liquid soaked through my silk blouse, scalding my skin. My cello clatte

clutching my burned arms, my face contorted i

turned his back on me and carried Gabrielle out of the

, rushed to my side. "Ma'am, are

esley' s retreating back.