She only wanted to see who he had traded her for…
Parshin walked straight into the kitchen, still in his coat, and sat at the table.
«I love another woman. She’s expecting our child. I’m leaving you for her,» he said bluntly, without preamble.
Vita turned off the tap and faced her husband.
«Is it the girl who sells apples at the market stall? Tonya, isn’t it?» she asked coolly.
«You knew?» Parshin’s eyes darted up to meet hers.
«Of course I knew, darling. You were never a good liar. Tell medo you actually love her, or are you leaving because of the baby?»
«I’m sorry.» He lowered his head.
*»And what about the ten years weve spent together? Do they mean nothing to you? What about me?»* Her eyes screamed the words, but Vita stayed silent.
«Do you plan to marry her?» she asked instead.
«Not now.»
«Then lets keep things as they are at the department. I dont want whispers behind our backs.»
«Agreed. Should I go now?» He stood.
Vita turned back to the faucet, letting the water run as she stared at the stream until Parshin left.
He was quickhe must have only taken the essentials. Or maybe hed come back?
She turned off the water, sat at the table in the exact spot hed just abandoned, and dropped her head onto her folded arms. But she didnt cry.
***
She hadnt cried a month earlier either, when her friend told her shed seen Parshin with another woman.
«A student?» Vita had asked then. «They always fall for him. What do they even see in him?»
«No, she sells fruit at the stall opposite the university. Tonya, they call her. Came from the countryside, lives in a shared flat on Churchill Road. Twenty-three,» her friend had recited, precise as a detective delivering a case file.
«How do you know all this?» Vita had frowned.
«Small town. My friend lives in that building. Youd remember herLisa Dawson. Your Parshins there often.»
«I dont recall. So thats where he sneaks off tonot extra lectures, then.»
She wouldnt believe it until she saw it herself. The next day, Vita decided to follow him. She knew when his last seminar ended, dressed plainly, and waited in the hall, hidden behind a pillar.
When he left, she trailed behind at a careful distance, avoiding his line of sight. If he felt her stare, he might turn. She wanted to keep her dignity intactlet him never think shed stoop to spying. She just needed to see who had taken her place.
He stopped near the stall where the girl sold apples and pears. A short queue of three customers waited as she deftly weighed fruit. She wore a sleeveless vest over a jumper, her heavy braid slipping over her shoulder every time she bent to the crates. A few loose strands fell into her face, and she blew them away with a puff. Her smile was sweet but simple, dimples pressing into her cheeks as she patiently served each customerbut her dark eyes kept flicking toward Parshin. *»Probably shortchanging them. Maybe I should call the Trading Standards,»* Vita thought bitterly.
An elderly woman meticulously inspected each apple before dropping it into the bag Tonya held.
«Thats enough,» the old lady finally said.
«Take some plums too. Sweet and softgood for jam,» Tonya suggested.
The woman hesitated, then shook her head. «No, just the apples. How much?»
The bag couldnt have held more than a kilo, but Tonya named a ridiculously low price. The old woman brightened, paid, and hurried off before the girl changed her mind.
*»She pities the elderly!»* Vita scoffed. *»Or is this a performance for Parshin?»*
She passed the stall daily, even haggled over plums oncebut shed never noticed the girl. Yet Parshin had.
When the last customer left, he approached Tonya. The way she looked at him made Vitas stomach twist. *»She worships him. Of coursesoon-to-be Dr. Parshin.»* The girl adjusted his collar, brushed invisible dust from his shouldersa tender gesture that stabbed Vita like a knife. Shed assumed an affair. But this was love.
She couldnt see Parshins face but knew his gaze mirrored Tonyas. Vita turned away before they noticed her.
That night, alone at home, she finally wept.
***
Shed noticed him at university first. Quiet, serious, never at parties, keeping to himself. Handsome, if not for the scowl beneath his heavy brows. Shed thought him a mysterya modern-day Heathcliff.
Once, she slid into the seat beside him during a lecture.
«Bored?» shed asked.
Hed looked at herand smiled. His face transformed. *»He* is *beautiful,»* she realized. After that, they sat together often. He walked her home.
«What do you even see in him?» a jealous friend had demanded.
«Best you dont know,» Vita had teased.
Their relationship grew slowly. By graduation, they were inseparable. They married soon after. His parents werent at the weddingtheyd died in a car crash years earlier. That explained the shadows in his eyes.
But in bed, he was gentle. Afterward, he recited Wordsworth, Auden, Yeats. He read beautifully. Vita listened, heart fluttering, as his voice plucked at her soul.
Shed longed for a child, but doctors had said it was unlikely after a childhood accident on the ice. Ten years passedno miracle. Parshin assured her they could adopt, but Vita wanted her own. How could she love anothers child?
After university, they both stayed on as lecturers. Lately, their marriage had settled into companionship. They knew each other inside out. For Vita, that was enough. But Parshin? He wanted fire. A child. And now hed found a simple girl whod give him both.
When she learned hed fathered a child, jealousy pierced hernot for the betrayal, but for the baby. *Hell have a son or daughter. And Ill never hold my own.*
Well, if she couldnt give him a child, someone else would. What use was a clever, barren wife? Did he read Tonya poetry too?
At work, nothing changed. They walked separately now, inventing reasons to leave early or arrive late. No one questioned it.
Parshin moved into Tonyas flat. Vita hoped hed reconsider, but weeks passed without him. She avoided looking toward the market.
She learned about the baby between lectures. He pulled her aside, eyes shining. «A daughter,» he whispered. She forced a congratulations. He rushed to the hospitalbut that evening, he returned, shaking. Tonya was dead. A stroke. Vita held him as he sobbed.
«The babys alive. What will you do?»
«Ill take her,» he said hoarsely.
«And work?»
«My aunt will help. Ill cut my hours.»
But by spring, the aunt leftgardening season, she said. Parshin hired a nanny, then fired her when he found her scrolling on her phone while the baby cried.
Days later, he called Vita.
«Please, I cant do this alone.»
«You left me. Now you ask for help?»
«Just come.»
Anger aside, the child was innocent. The moment Vita held little Alice, resentment melted. Parshin had named her after his mother. Alice Alexandra Parshin. It suited her.
At first, Vita just visitedcooking, ironing, walking Alice while Parshin taught. But then the landlords complained. The tenant was dead; a stranger lived there now.
«Pack your things. Both of you are moving in with me,» she said without hesitation.
For a while, they slept separately. Then Alice said her first «Mummy,» and Vitas heart nearly burst.
One evening, she returned to peals of laughter. Alice toddled toward Parshin as he caught and lifted her, both grinning. Vita froze. Shed never heard him laugh before. Tears pricked her eyes.
«How long have you been watching?» He turned, beaming. «Look!» He set Alice down, stepping back as she wobbled toward him.
He talked of nothing else all night. That night, they were close again. He read to her, and her heart soared.
«Did you ever read to her?» she ventured.
He paused. «Once. She didnt understand.»
Alice grew, resembling Tonya more each day. Once, passing the market, Vita saw a different woman at the stallolder, brassy-haired, nails chipped. She winked at Parshin.
«Lets go,» he muttered, disgusted.
That night, as Vita washed dishes, he hugged her from behind.
«Thank you. Without you… You and Aliceyoure everything.»
«Without you and Tonya, thered be no Alice.»
She had forgiven. Had she clung to pride, thered be no Alice, no reunited family. Just loneliness.
She pitied Tonyagone too soon. But shed left a gift. One day, theyd tell Alice about her birth mother. Or maybe not. Vita had raised her, loved her as her own. That was what mattered.
