Fantasma sighed deeply as she moved the quivering feather duster over a shelf she'd cleaned just earlier that day. It was the photo shelf, holding the four frames containing the four things she held dear: her marriage, her daughter, her three dogs, and her college diploma.
Or at least, three of the things she held dear.
Never mind that, Fanny thought to herself. It wouldn't do her any good to dwell on her feelings. It's not like she was totally dependent on Ribel. She had her education, and even in her late thirties she held the youthful glib of a twentysomething. Finding a new life wouldn't be difficult, if it came to that. When it did.
Fanny picked up the cracked photo closest to her and examined the abrasion. Ironically, it cut right down the middle; she stood on one side, her husband on the other. Drawing the framed picture closer to her face, she studied Ribel's handsome face, forever preserved on the paper memory. Her eyes traced the contours of his chiseled jaw and broad forehead, absently noticing his thick eyebrows and dark, brooding eyes. He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. It never had. In the photo, Fanny and Ribel stood next to each other, shoulders aligned perfectly, arms by their sides. Their hands interlocked, but there was no other signs that they were a couple. No loving gaze, no tender, affectionate hand rested on the small of her back.
That's the way their marriage had always been. Side-by-side, but never together. They worked, slept, and lived next to each other, sharing a house but never a home, sharing a bed but never a life.
Fanny's family had warned her about this. A man like Ribel is good for one thing, and that's business, her mother had said. He is not a suitable husband for a girl like my Fanny. Allison, Fanny's best friend, had sworn up and down that he would be trouble. But Fanny, though quiet and slow to speak up, was, in her own way, determined. She was not one to allow even her closest friends to decide anything for her, and when she had chosen Ribel, she had believed with all her heart that it was meant to be.
Now, two years into their little piece of forever, she was certain that it was not meant to be.
