Married to His Couch, Not Me

Gerald watched me hit Claire, and whatever restraint he had left snapped completely. "I must have been out of my mind to let Adam marry you!" he shouted.

Adam's mother, Matilda Bennett, helped Claire to her feet. Claire's eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears, but she shook her head and put on a brave face.

"Please, don't blame Lena," she said. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have opened my mouth and made things worse. She's hurting, and I pushed her when I shouldn't have. The baby's right here. Let's not keep fighting because of me."

Watching Claire like that only made Adam feel worse. He turned to her gently. "Claire, this isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

Then he turned toward me. "Lena, this is our son's one-month celebration, and you pick today to bring up divorce. What, you think because I love you, you can pull whatever you want and I'll just put up with it?"

Gerald stepped forward, glaring at me. "Are you really set on this? I bet there's someone else. That's the only explanation. Why else would you be this heartless, demanding a divorce at your own child's celebration?"

Claire's eyes widened, like something had just fallen into place. "That's it, isn't it? No wonder you're so desperate to leave. You have someone on the side. How can you do this to your son? To Adam?"

Adam's whole body went rigid. "Lena, you better not actually be seeing someone."

I listened to Claire call him "Adam" over and over like she owned the name, and my expression didn't change.

"Whether there's someone else isn't the point," I said. "The point is that Adam and I are getting divorced."

That was the last straw for Gerald. He pointed toward the door and roared at me. "Fine! You ungrateful wretch. You're not welcome here anymore, and take your parents with you.

"You want a divorce so badly? Fine. I'll see you in court in five days. And I'm going to make sure you pay back every cent you've squeezed out of my son."

Mom and Dad opened their mouths to say something, but one look from Gerald and Matilda shut them down cold.

The second we stepped out of the hospital room, Dad grabbed my arm. "Lena, what is going on with you?" he asked. "You and Adam used to be so happy together. How do you go from that to divorce papers? And on a day like this?"

He let out a heavy sigh, his eyes going distant. "I still remember when you two first got together. You were glued to his side every second of the day, and he was your whole world. You knew how hard he worked, so you'd make dinner and have it ready when he got home.

"You even taught yourself how to give massages so you could help him unwind after a long day. Things were so good back then. How did it end up like this?"

The words hit me harder than I expected. Before I could stop them, tears slid down my face.

I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand and kept my voice steady. "Dad, that's all in the past now."

I pulled free from his grip and walked toward the elevators without looking back.

Downstairs, my old college friend Derek Lacey was leaning against his car, waiting for me. I climbed into the passenger seat.

He took one look at my face and smirked. "You've been crying, huh? Sounds like that party was even more fun than I expected."

I managed a tired laugh. "Don't tease me. I'm going to need your help in court in five days."

I put my earbuds in, pulled up the recording on my phone, and made myself listen to it again.