A Heart for a Heart

As it turned out, marrying me was a terrible humiliation for James.

So that was why he was so silent when I happily showed him my positive pregnancy test all those years ago.

He thanked me, like I had just completed a quest.

He never held Stan in his arms after he was born. The moment he saw Stan, he calmly told the doctor to perform a full-body examination, with focus on our son's heart.

The lights were off the night we consummated, and I thought he was just embarrassed.

Now, it was clear that he never wanted to marry me—the face he wanted to see wasn't mine.

His diary entries were a mess, but they were all about Sue and Nathan.

And the last entry was just seven days ago.

[Maybe this Kabbalah stuff works. I actually slept soundly and dreamed about…]

The entry was cut off, and I wasn't interested in reading.

Taking pictures of the diary contents, I commissioned a private investigator and returned the diary where I found it.

James arrived home just as I stepped out of his study, and there was panic on his face when he saw that I was on the third floor.

"Why would you want to go upstairs?" He quickly rushed to my side. "You're still hurt. You need to stay in bed."

I refused his outstretched hands and simply said, "Been lying down too long. I'm tired."

James kept staring at my face, quietly sighing in relief when he decided I wasn't looking upset, and pulled out a box. "Your favorite pastries, dear. I went all the way to get it for you."

I liked pastries, but I also saw the photo Sue posted on Twitter just five minutes ago, captioned: Nathan asked, and a certain man drove two hours for these.

She had always vagueposted, but I just didn't know it was about my own husband.

Still, I liked the post while James wasn't watching, because I wanted to wait.

Once I gathered sufficient evidence, it would really be over between me and James.

Sue called me just as I paid the private investigator, inviting me to a villa in the suburbs.

Even the paint hues felt warm unlike the cold tones back in my home—he'd say he preferred things simple, but everything from furniture to decorations were monochrome.

As I entered, Sue was on the couch, nonchalantly admiring her freshly polished nails.

"I guess you know about me and James now," she said, giving up on pretenses after getting Stan's heart. "Well, James agreed to take me and Nathan back home to see his old folks soon and enter Nathan's name in his family's annals."

I calmly watched him for a while, eventually asking, "Is that all you have to say?"

Sue's smug smile stiffened, and she leaped off the couch, shrieking, "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?! What, you still believe you're Mrs. Frost?! Dream on! Did you really think James loved you at all?! It's for me and Nathan's sake that he—"

She stopped, but she clearly couldn't take a loss and kept snapping, "In a relationship, the other woman is the one who isn't loved, just like your child! Nathan is going to be James' only son now, and all his wealth will be Nathan's! As for your dead brat?! Just send him some flowers, I guess!"

My temper flared at the mention of Stan, and I swung my palm at her, but she caught me as I was still enfeebled.

She leaned close to me, smirking as she said slowly and clearly, "Can't even protect your own son? You deserve to be dumped."

My eyes were red with humiliation and hatred.