Objects of Desire Read Online Free PDF Page A

time he would not make the slightest concession, as he had done all their married life to date. Not for her, the children, nor their marriage. Even he was shocked to find that his marriage to Anoushka was quite finished. How indifferent he was to the years or even the pleasure he had had with her and family life.
    ‘Anoushka, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it’s going to happen.’
    ‘I can’t seem to take this in, Robert. If there is a problem, let’s talk about it, work it out.’
    ‘Anoushka, the problem is this marriage, and I don’t want to work it out. It’s over.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Don’t do this to yourself.’
    ‘Do what?’
    ‘Ask me the whys and wherefores.’
    ‘Oh, I’m just to remain silent and make it easy for you to destroy my life!’
    ‘Talking about why I want a divorce will only hurtyou more, and not make this any easier for me. It’s over, we have to go forward with our lives.’
    It was as if Anoushka had not heard his words. Once more she asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’
    ‘I want to live my life differently.’
    ‘Then we’ll both live our lives differently.’
    ‘Stop! I don’t want to live with you. This divorce is all about not wanting to live the remainder of my life with you. We’re both still young enough to make other, more rewarding relationships for ourselves. Ones that will make us really happy.’
    ‘I
am
really happy.’
    ‘Well, I’m not, Anoushka, and I don’t want to live one more day of a life filled with regrets. Not even one more hour.’
    ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me. I’m going to wake up and this will have been a bad dream, a nightmare.’
    ‘You are very much awake, Anoushka.’
    ‘We’re a family.’
    ‘Yes, we are at least that. You can see the boys any time you want to see them.’
    ‘I can’t seem to take this in. You love another woman and always have? And you are giving me permission to see my own sons when I would like to? Have I done something wrong? OK, if I have then I’ll make it right. If you’re unhappy with some aspect of our life, we’ll solve the problem, Robert. I love you and I know you love me.’
    She rose from her chair and paced the floor. Angrynow, she confronted him with, ‘How dare you tell me you haven’t been happy, that we haven’t had a good life, a family and home that was everything you ever wanted?’
    ‘It was everything
you
ever wanted, I always wanted more but made do.’
    ‘That’s cruel.’
    ‘That’s the truth, and one we should have faced years ago. Now let’s be civil about this.’
    ‘It’s difficult to be civil, Robert, when I have been so deceived.’
    ‘I take full blame for the dissolution of our family.’
    ‘Oh, Robert, that’s rich! You destroy my life in one swift blow and don’t mind taking the responsibility for it. Who is she? Is she demanding that you divorce me and marry her?’
    ‘No. She knows nothing about this. And she has never, not once, made a demand that I leave my family for her. Quite the opposite in fact. It was she, many times, who tried to break away from me to save our family.’
    ‘Taking my husband anyway! How pathetic I must seem in your woman’s eyes. How rotten of her, how rotten of you. How long have you not loved me?’
    ‘You are determined to have this out, aren’t you?’
    ‘You bet I am.’
    ‘I won’t lie to you, so some things are better left unsaid. Believe me, it’s best for us merely to work out some arrangements.’
    ‘Better for you, but not for me. I want the truth.’
    The man standing in front of Anoushka was a Robert she had never seen before. All kindness, generosity, gone from his face; instead anger and bitterness and hatred. She shivered, felt sick and collapsed into the chair where she had been sitting.
    ‘I never wanted this marriage. I
had
to marry you. Now does that make this any easier?’
    ‘Because I was pregnant?’ It was more a gasp than a statement.
    ‘Yes. You trapped me into