I DIDN’T LOVE you all 50 YEARS. Because you… – the man declared at the wedding anniversary. Guests FROZE from the wife’s response…

The morning tea was cooling in the cup as Helen sat by the window, watching the falling autumn leaves. The upcoming anniversary and the news of her sister’s arrival stirred up memories she had tried for years to tuck away in the far corner of her mind. Her and Patricia’s childhood was spent in a small town in Pennsylvania. Their father, William Harris, a respected farmer in the town, worked in the fields every day. Their mother, Margaret Harris, a seamstress in the local shop, sewed for half the town. They lived modestly, but had everything necessary.

Helen remembered their house, small, with a garden where their mother grew hollyhocks and marigolds. The kitchen always smelled of freshly baked bread. On Sundays, the whole family gathered at the table, drank tea from the samovar, listened to radio broadcasts.

The sisters differed in character like day and night. Helen from childhood was calm, sensible. She studied excellently, helped her mother with housework, read voraciously, by ten years old she had mastered the entire home library. Patricia grew up rambunctious, restless. Always with scraped knees, in torn dresses, with a spark of boundless energy in her eyes. She got into scrapes one after another, but thanks to her charm and drive, always came out unscathed.

«What a character your little one has, pure fire,» the neighbors said to their mother. She just sighed in response. From childhood, there was a strange rivalry between the sisters. If Helen bought a new dress for school, Patricia threw a tantrum, demanding the same or even better. And having gotten what she wanted, she quickly lost interest, the dress ended up abandoned in the closet.

Their parents tried to love their daughters equally, but Patricia always felt that Helen was loved more. «Helen the straight-A student, Helen the helper, and what am I, chopped liver?» she often grumbled, slamming her room door. Helen remembered how once her mother told her, while arranging her hair before graduation: «You, dear, be gentler with your sister. She has such a temper, always wants to be first. And you yield sometimes; she needs it more.»

In their youth, their relationship became more complicated. Sixteen-year-old Helen was already dating John, the handsome guy from the parallel class. Once she came home from the library earlier than usual and found them with Patricia alone in the living room. Notebooks and textbooks were spread out before them. John was explaining something, and Patricia looked at him with such eyes… Helen understood everything immediately. «Patricia isn’t eyeing me; she just always needs what you have,» John explained later. And Helen believed. Wanted to believe.

When, after finishing school, Helen went to teachers’ college in Philadelphia, she couldn’t imagine that something could happen between John and Patricia. Before leaving, she and John walked until dawn, made plans, talked about future life. He swore eternal love, promised to visit every week. For the first months, he did visit; they went to the movies, to the park, kissed on a bench by the fountain. Helen was happy. Then his visits became rarer. John cited studies, part-time work at the auto shop.

Helen also came home on weekends and breaks, saw him, but felt that something had changed. His gaze no longer sought her eyes with the former fervor. Touches became like a duty. And then that Sunday happened, which turned her whole life upside down. Helen returned from college a day early—classes were canceled due to a heating failure in the building. Getting off the bus, she saw John and Patricia. They were walking down the main street of the town, holding hands, and laughing. In Patricia’s eyes burned that familiar fire—the thrill of possessing someone else’s. And in John’s eyes was real infatuation.

Standing by the window and looking at the falling autumn leaves, Helen relived the pain of that day. «Lord, so much water under the bridge, yet it feels like yesterday,» she thought. She didn’t make a scene. She just called John that evening and asked him to come. They sat on the bench in the yard where they once kissed until dizzy. «Do you love her?» was all Helen asked. John was silent for a long time, examining his hands. Then he quietly nodded.

It was the worst betrayal of her life, from the two closest people. She returned to college and soon took to her bed with a nervous breakdown. The world lost its colors, food its taste. She was hospitalized. Her mother came, silently packed her things, and took her daughter home to recover.

Meanwhile, the situation took a new turn. Patricia got pregnant by John. In those years, it was a real disgrace for an unmarried girl, especially the daughter of a farmer in a small town where everyone knew each other. John’s parents, upon learning, flew into a rage. His father, Michael Harris, worked as chief engineer at the factory in Newark. His mother taught at the music school. They were respected people in the town and couldn’t allow such a scandal. «We don’t need such a daughter-in-law!» the father shouted, pounding the table with his fist. «She’s disgraced herself and will disgrace us! Marry Helen, as planned!» They literally forced their son to return to his former fiancée, threatening to cut off support if he disobeyed.

John, raised in a prosperous family, wasn’t ready to be left without his parents’ help, without a roof over his head and means of living. And Patricia, left alone with her trouble, turned to her mother. But Margaret Harris was adamant: «You brewed this mess, you clean it up. What were you thinking, stealing your sister’s bread?» It ended with Patricia deciding on an abortion. Helen learned about it much later. After the procedure, her sister developed complications, and the doctors said she would never have children.

As soon as she finished school, Patricia left the town, as if fleeing the past. She enrolled in nursing school in San Francisco, wrote home rarely. Helen, recovering from her illness, unexpectedly for everyone, including herself, decided to accept John’s marriage proposal. Though she knew he loved her sister. She naively thought she could win back his love, that time would heal his heart. Or perhaps she was driven by revenge on her sister—to live with the one dear to Patricia…