[ WP ] Divorcing after children is the norm . Write about a family that stays together .

`` Joe, we should do it. For the kids. Do n't you think they'd have such a better life if we did?'' She blinks her eyes at me across the table, a white square of emptiness in a restaurant I could n't afford, to commemorate the seven years and the three children we'd shared together. 
 
 `` If we wait much longer, people will start talking. My mother's already been asking me for the date we've set. She wants to buy a new dress...'' 
 
 `` Frankly Elise, fuck your mother, okay?'' The words burst out of me before i could help myself. Her red mouth hung open. 
 
 `` Joe!'' But she giggled, I was in the clear. 
 
 `` Look, what if we just did n't?'' I suggested, watching her beautiful face carefully. 
 
 She'd taken a tiny mouthful of risotto, and i watched her swallow as the meaning behind my words hit her. 
 
 `` Did n't split?'' She hissed it like it was a dirty word. 
 
 `` Yeah... If we both... Just stayed together?'' The waiter swooped past our table, pouring out wine as he moved effortlessly. We both clammed up, Elise smiling at him through clamped red lips. 
 
 `` Joe, what are you thinking? It's not done. My mothe-'' 
 
 `` Do n't start that again'' I forced a laugh. 
 
 `` I do n't know. I do n't want Harry or May to be bullied... They're at that age now. You know how cruel children can be.'' 
 
 `` It's not all about the kids Elise. What about us? What do you want?'' An image, unbidden, swam into my vision. Autumn on campus and the leaves falling were as red as Elise's lips. She wore an orange beret and mittens. We'd sat on frost bitten grass and breathed smoke and talked about the possibility of a future together. We'd never spoken about the Split then. It was just something that happened to older people, never to us. But here were, fifteen years on and it was happening to me. 
 
 My wife looked at me, sighing as she looked at the slightly pathetic risotto, gone cold in her plate. `` Joe...'' She said, with something like longing in her voice. 
 
 I took the plunge and reached across the divide, grabbing her little hands in my own. The fear of losing her rose like a roaring animal in my chest and i struggled to hear myself over the rushing of blood in my ears. 
 
 `` I ca n't lose you.'' I said quietly. `` I love you, Elise. I've loved you since I first met you. I've loved you after each of our children, after each of our fights. You've never been one to follow convention.'' I tried a feeble joke, but she did n't smile. 
 
 Her cheeks looked very white. `` We'll be shunned.'' She said 
 
 `` Let them come, Elise. There'll be two of us. We're always better together. You know that.'' 
 
 A tight nod and relief drowned me. 
 
 `` I'll stay with you Joe. I love you too.''
