The first I knew of our money problems was the day I went home early from work, suffering with a migraine. It was unusual to see mail on the doormat, as John would normally deal with it before I came home. As bad as my headache was, I could not help noticing the words “Final Demand” were peeking out of the window on one of the envelopes. My curiosity got the better of me and I opened it.
I immediately thought that something must have gone wrong at the bank. Hadn’t John said that all the direct debits were being taken from his account and I didn’t have to worry? I rechecked the letter just in case I was mistaken, then I put it on the mantelpiece until we could talk about it.
When John realised that I’d read the letter, he turned on me like a cornered cat. He spat out some profanities, accused me of not trusting him and lashed out and almost hit me. I couldn’t believe the change in his demeanour. His behaviour didn’t make any sense at all; it was only one bill, wasn’t it?
That night, sleep eluded me. My mind was frantically going through the argument, over and over again. I needed to know what was going on but I didn’t want a repeat of tonight’s performance. If we had money problems, I needed to know, we needed to discuss what we could do about them. I decided to get up and look at what jewellery I had that I might sell to get some money. Perhaps if I had a ready-made solution, John would not take so much offence.
I grabbed a dressing gown as I crept out of the door and went into the spare bedroom. After putting the jewellery box on the bed to muffle any sound, I opened the lid. Was it my imagination, or did it seem emptier than usual. I opened one of the small drawers where I kept my engagement ring. The ring’s setting was loose and I was going to take it in to be repaired when I had the time. It wasn’t in the usual drawer, or any of the other compartments. I was starting to panic. I turned the box upside down and poured the contents onto the quilt. I began to realise that it wasn’t only the ring that was missing. My pearl necklace was nowhere to be seen or any of my other antique jewellery.
Unbeknown to John, I knew where he kept his login and passwords for his bank account. I tiptoed downstairs, collected the computer and passwords and locked myself in the downstairs bathroom. His account was in the red. We were hundreds of pounds overdrawn
I quietly unlocked the front door, found my handbag and the car keys and left for my parents’ house.
