Her Life Beyond the Walls

On the one thousand and ninety-fourth day of being Mrs. Harris, I asked James Harris for a divorce.

His face showed a hint of confusion, but it quickly shifted to his usual, composed expression.

"As you wish," he said, his tone as flat as if we were discussing whether to replace the milk on the breakfast table.

He did not even bother to ask why.

On the one thousand and ninety-fifth day, I gently saw him and the children off, acting as if nothing had happened, and then completely left the Harris family behind.

In the beginning, James Harris and the rest of the Harris family thought I was just in a mood, but it did not take long for them to sense that something was off.

Calvin Harris, the youngest son of the family, was the first to make a scene. He was initially thrilled when his micromanaging mother took off.

However, his joy turned to dismay at the school carnival when his father forgot to tell the babysitter to bake cookies, and he ended up with generic cookies instead of the homemade bear-shaped ones his mother used to bake.

Surrounded by classmates who craved his mother's famous treats, Calvin had a sudden epiphany: maybe his mother was not so bad after all.

Then there was Chester Harris who despised the scheming woman who had taken his mother's place. However, during a thunderstorm, as he pressed against the door, the absence of his mother's soothing hum from the other side sent him into a tailspin.

Mandy York came next, her blood pressure spiking again, then needing meds to keep it in check. It hit her like a ton of bricks—she had not had one of Emma Carter's nutritious meals in weeks.

Even Julia Harris, the husband's younger sister, started dropping hints to James, trying to figure out when they would bring me back home.

The Harrises pestered James about me, and some even nudged him, saying a true gentleman knew when to give in a little and sweet-talk his wife—it would not cost him his pride.

Mandy could not hold back any longer. At the breakfast table, she laid it all out for her son James.

"James, I get it, you're a man, and you've got your pride, but you and your wife shouldn't be so distant. If you're too embarrassed to ask Emma to come back, then let me do it. I'm just an old lady, after all."

James, who already had a reputation for being standoffish, seemed to turn even icier.

Everyone thought he was too arrogant to make the first move, but the truth was, he had tried to call the day after I left.

However, I had blocked him.

That number he never bothered to ring up in a decade was suddenly out of reach when he finally worked up the courage to dial it. The thought made his scowl deepen.

He glanced at his two sons, who were silent but watching him with hopeful