Mr. and Mrs. Williams were not on speaking terms this morning. Last night the heated words they'd exchanged had been particularly vicious. Both of their hearts bled with pain, but pride kept the spouses apart.
Mrs. Williams couldn't understand why her husband thought her actions were wrong.
Mr. Williams couldn't understand why his wife acts the way she does.
They both knew a divorce was inevitable.
Neither knew how to explain it to their daughter.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams did not love each other. They never had.
Linda Williams was fickle and had carried a string of lovers all through her college years.
She continued to have lovers after she was married.
Robert Williams had married Linda for the sole reason that both of their parents had pushed him to do so. Her mother and father hoped a stable man would be able to keep their daughter from acting out. His mother and father thought it would bring in a good deal of money to have a wife that was a famous actress.
He couldn't control his wife. His wife couldn't control her cash flow.
Mr. Williams had two jobs that were just barely keeping his family out of bankruptcy.
They both filed for divorce.
Neither knew how to explain it to their daughter.
Sarah hadn't been an accident. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had made an effort to conceive. After all, they couldn't achieve the coveted American Dream without a child, could they?
They hadn't made much of an effort to be parents. More accurately, they didn't know how to be parents. They thought giving Sarah a lot of toys would keep her happy. They thought that was all a child needed.
Mr. Williams didn't have much time for his daughter. He didn't know what to do with her, really. To be honest, he'd hoped for a little boy. He'd always wanted a boy to take to football games and play catch with in the yard. He didn't quite care for princess dresses and cute shoes. Robert was a busy man. He never really thought to make time for his daughter.
Mrs. Williams loved having a baby girl. When Sarah was first born, Linda cooed and sighed as she happily clothed her little living doll in every dress and costume she could get her hands on.
However, when Sarah was old enough to demand to dress herself, Linda lost most of her interest. She still bought Sarah plenty of clothes and accessories, but her daughter was no longer willing to play the part of the dress-up doll. Soon enough Linda moved on to other entertainments. In fact, she paid so little attention to her daughter that she didn't even wonder how silk pajamas suddenly appeared in her daughter's dirty clothes hamper one day.
Sarah Williams cried when her mother and father told her they were getting a divorce.
To be fair, they hadn't explained it very well.