I watched my mother remove her wedding necklace

Dear Delyara, My father left this morning. No shouting. No broken plates. He packed two suitcases while my mother made tea. She asked whether he wanted sugar. He said no. That was all. After he closed the door, my mother stood in the kitchen for a long time. Then she reached behind her neck and removed the black-and-gold wedding chain she has worn every day of my life. I had never seen her neck without it. There was a pale line where the chain had protected her skin from the sun. She placed it in the sugar bowl. I don’t know why that detail hurts me more than the suitcases. Maybe because my parents’ marriage had always seemed permanent in the same way the refrigerator or the ceiling fan seemed permanent. Not happy every day. Just there. Tonight, my mother cooked too much rice. She kept setting aside a portion for him, then remembering, then mixing it back into the pot. Neither of us has mentioned the necklace. It is still inside the sugar bowl. Every time I make tea, I hear the little gold beads move against the spoon.