Proserpina

When I stood before the mirror in the large, spacious bathroom, I could see that my stomach was still firm, and there was no outward indication of the change in my body. which was good, I thought grimly.

I looked around me again—at the little house where we had spent so many hours in love.

I had blissfully imagined it to be ours, a love nest, but now I saw it for what it was, the way the world looked at it: a House to Keep a Mistress.

to be vacated when the next one turned up.

Sinking to the floor wearily, I asked myself, "Had it ever been...