65 // Compromises

They say a woman holds a knife by the sharp end, but for Lola Leibrandt, it felt as though the knife had pierced through her hand and aimed straight for her heart.

She was bleeding on the inside, but she still forced herself to fight to the end. Nobody saw her pain, everyone expected her to be understanding all the time while they continued trampling all over her like a piece of gum stuck under a shoe.

She had to endure her husband throwing Montana and their son in her face these past few weeks, and now she was forced to understand that Montana was the mother of David’s son. She had to slave herself to make them ‘feel at home.’ In whose home exactly?

She breathed heavily as she clutched at the edge of the kitchen counter with a knife in one of her gloves hands. She breathed in and out, trying to even out her breath, and she used the back of her free hand to wipe the sweat on her forehead.

Lola placed the knife down, took off the gloves, and washed her hands,