The Perfect Wife’s Answer to the Rudest Ultimatum a Marriage Ever Saw

Eleanor smiled to herself and hit block. Gloria’s number went onto the blacklist right after his. Then the doorbell rang again, this time with a short, polite chime.

Eleanor looked through the peephole cautiously. It wasn’t them. It was a young delivery driver holding a large flat box.

“Pizza!” Maddie called happily from her room. Eleanor opened the door and tipped the driver well. A little later, the two of them sat comfortably on the living room floor, eating hot ham pizza and watching cartoons on the big TV Mike had somehow come to think of as his personal prize.

Yes, there was a little less money in Eleanor’s bank account now. The emergency crew and the same-night lock change had not been cheap. But as she looked at her daughter’s peaceful face, at her clean house, and felt her shoulders finally relaxing after six months of tension, she knew this had been the best investment of her life.

Fairness isn’t when everybody gets the same thing. Fairness is when people get what they’ve earned. Mike got his mother. Eleanor got her freedom.

“Mom?” Maddie said, chewing a crispy crust. “Can we rebuild the castle tomorrow?” “Absolutely,” Eleanor said with a smile.

“This time, nobody’s going to get in our way.” Outside the dark window, rain began to fall hard, washing away the tire tracks of the moving truck carrying three unhappy freeloaders back to a cramped two-bedroom on the edge of town, where they could spend as long as they liked making each other miserable. But that was another story entirely, and Eleanor had no interest in it. She was finally home.