There was no mail in the box that day
Just a lonesome little note
It was opulently dressed in a gold leaf sheathe
Gold wax stamped the back flap closed

Black calligraphy skillfully addressed
The letter in care of my name
The return address was markedly absent
And its postmark conspicuously the same

The lone envelope felt very weighty
As I clutched it tightly in my hand
And although its contents were not yet revealed
Instinct hinted that its sender wasn’t a friend

I found it odd how anxious I felt
But the ominous feeling wouldn’t pass
And I teetered between wanting to tear the letter open
And toss it at once in the trash

But, instead I casually walked back inside
My pulse thumping wildly in my ears
And made my over way to my comfy recliner
Sitting back as I ripped through the seal

I began to unfold the golden paper
And my thoughts began to rush
And when the words found my anxious eyes
All life activity decreased to a hush

It read:
I often watch you from the across the street
While sitting inside my car
You are as lovely as I’ve been told
I can see how you won his heart
He says that he loves you
And would do anything for you,
And will never let you go
And as much as I think he does believe that
He’ll soon change his mind; believe me, I know
You know the Saturday mornings like today
That he claims for his nephew’s little league
In reality, he’s in the comfort of my bed
Kissing me, missing me, loving…me
You see, he's not the man you married
In fact you don’t know him at all
You have no clue how to build him up
You don’t know how to make him stand tall
I’ve known him longer and I know him better
Some things you’ll just never understand
You could never provide the happiness he finds
In the arms of another man!

There was more to read but I could not go on
I felt the color draining from my face
I wanted to fling the letter across the room
But it stuck to my hand like paste

So with trembling hands and a trembling heart
I decided to face my fears
But trying to resume was of no use
As my vision was blurred by tears

I wiped them away with one fell swoop
As I reluctantly read on
And the next words I read
Would have killed me straight dead
If the beat of my heart wasn’t strong

It read:
This is not an attempt to break your heart
And I’m not looking for a fight
It’s simply an attempt to be up front
To bring the truth into the light
The life that you have been used to
From this day forth won’t be the same
‘Cause by the time you read this note
We will both have two bullets in our brains
You’ll probably be visited by the police soon
I'm so sorry it has come to this
I hear that true love follows one into death
And you’ll find out some day that it did!

I realized at once that I had stopped breathing
I could not believe what I read
The words had ended, but it was the only the beginning
As I considered that my love might be dead

Anger and rage filled each cell in my body
Replaced by overwhelming fear
What if everything in the letter was true
And I’d lost the one I held so dear

I rose from my chair and ran to my bedroom
And the night stand that held my cell
But before I could dial the first digit of his number
I was stopped by the sound of the bell

In that instant I knew that it all had been true
As I rounded the bend towards the door
And I realized then that I could no longer pretend
And I collapsed into a heap on the floor

Love is a gamble and you’re never prepared
For trials that you will endure
I knew the secret that my husband thought he’d hidden
Yet I thought that love would be his cure

So I helped him build a house of lies
‘Cause I knew that our love flowed deep
And now these walls have all fallen down;
His final secret, he could not keep