I Asked for Divorce After My Husband Raised a Fish

After my husband, Jonathan Beckett’s childhood sweetheart, Pauline Morris, returned to the country and discovered he already had a child with me, she created a storm. Not long after, drunk on a mountaintop, she slipped and fell to her death.

The news broke my husband. For three days and nights, Jonathan sat outside the morgue, refusing to return home.

Everyone whispered that he must hate me now—that sooner or later, he would demand a divorce.

After all, I was nothing but the compromise he had made under family pressure. The one he truly cherished, the one who had lived in his heart all along, was Pauline.

But instead of distancing himself, my husband changed.

My husband became gentle and attentive. He even handed me his entire paycheck without hesitation.

This was the same man who had always loathed hassle, yet to please me, he asked a friend to fly in an eel from Europe and raised it in a tank in our living room.

And then, during a family dinner with both sides gathered, I calmly dropped the news: I wanted a divorce.

The table fell into stunned silence. Even my mother scolded me, accusing me of not knowing how to count my blessings.

Jonathan’s eyes reddened as he clutched my wrist.

His voice broke. “What did I do wrong? Tell me, and I’ll fix it.”

I pulled my hand free, meeting my husband’s gaze with calm finality.

“It’s because you’ve been doing everything so perfectly that I want a divorce,” I said.

——

“Angela, are you out of your mind?” Jonathan’s voice was hoarse and low, his knuckles whitening with the force of his grip.

“Our son just turned one. You promised you’d be there to watch him grow up. Have you forgotten that already?”

The clatter of bowls and chopsticks filled the room.

My mother-in-law, Sandra Beckett, quickly set down her ladle, grabbed my hand, and pleaded through tears.

“Angela, hasn’t Jonathan been good enough to you lately? He gave you his whole paycheck, and comes straight home after work to care for the baby. You can’t make trouble like this.”

“Mother, I’m not making trouble. This marriage has to end," I said evenly.

When she saw the resolve in my eyes, her hand froze midair. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, but no words came.

Jonathan’s eyes were rimmed in red, his throat working as he spoke. “Where did I go wrong? Angela, tell me. I’ll change. I knew you liked eel. So even though I hate the hassle, I asked a friend to ship one from Europe just for you. Isn’t that enough proof already?”

I looked up at the tank where the eel slid lazily through the water, my face expressionless.

“It’s not about you being bad. I just don’t want this anymore. Please sign the divorce papers.”

In the meantime, my mother slammed her palm against the table, rattling the porcelain bowls.

“Angela, are you out of your mind? Weren’t you the one who cried and begged to marry Jonathan, swearing you’d never marry anyone else? And now, after all this, you finally married him, you even have a child, and he changes diapers, makes bottles in the middle of the night, more attentive than you are as a mother, and you still want to leave?”

I avoided her gaze and turned back to Jonathan. “Just sign it. It’s better for both of us.”

“Sign it?” Jonathan let out a bitter laugh, though his eyes burned red. “Angela, look me in the eye and tell me if this is still about what happened a few days ago? Pauline is like a sister to me. Of course, I was devastated when she died, but I already explained that to you.”

His fingertip brushed the signature line on the divorce papers.

He then added, his voice tight, “Listen to me. I will never agree to a divorce. I know you’ve always resented my past with Pauline, but she’s gone now…”

He caught my shoulders, though his grip was light. “All I want now is a life with you and Ethan. I’ve put every bonus into Ethan’s account. I come home straight from work every day to help him. I even bought that eel just to make you smile. What more do you want from me?”

At the mention of the eel, my fingertips went cold.

Jonathan had hated trouble since he was a boy. He had never kept pets. I loved fish, but no matter how many times I asked him before, he always refused to let me keep any at home.

Yet three days ago, he suddenly had a friend fly one in from Europe, saying he wanted to bring some life into the living room.