Twelve Years Gone, Like The Wind

#Early the next morning, Miles was still asleep when I left the house with a thermos.

Even though this marriage had already fallen apart, I still went to the city hospital.

My mother-in-law, Ruth, had been hospitalized for nearly a year with severe kidney failure.

I had been taking care of her day and night.

I considered it my duty as a daughter-in-law.

When I entered the hospital room, Ruth was complimenting me to the family members who were visiting her.

“I’ve gotten through this illness all because of Jenna. She’s a hundred times more devoted than my own real daughter could ever be.”

When she saw me come in, she smiled broadly and quickly asked me to take a seat.

I ladled out the soup I had simmered all night and placed it in her hands.

“Ruth, drink it while it’s hot. Miles had a fever last night. I have to get back and check on him in a bit.”

Ruth took the bowl of soup and drank it.

Her phone was propped up on the small table, playing a video for her to watch. It suddenly rang.

It was a FaceTime call from a contact named “Wendy.”

It was inconvenient for Ruth to pick up her call since she was drinking the soup.

She used her chin to indicate the phone and said, “Jenna, help me answer that call, would you? It’s probably Miles’ little cousin.”

I did not think too much about it. I reached out and swiped the answer button.

When I saw that familiar young face, my expression froze.

It was Wendy, the same woman who had been involved with Miles during his drunken incident half a year ago.

In the video, she held a little boy about three-years-old in her arms.

The boy sweetly called out to the camera, “Grandma! Look at the car Daddy bought me!”

Wendy complained coquettishly, “Ruth, Miles drank too much here last night and had a fever. I let him sleep in a little.

“I wonder if that crazy woman lost her mind on him again just because he came home late.”

The atmosphere in the hospital room instantly turned tense.

Ruth trembled in fear and dropped the scalding hot soup all over the blanket.

“J-Jenna! Let me explain!”

Ignoring her own burns, she rushed over to grab the phone.

I stepped back and stared intensely at the child on the screen. He looked just like Miles.

Chills ran down my spine.

“Is this Miles’ ‘little cousin’ that you’ve been talking about?”

Caught red-handed, Ruth sighed and dropped all pretenses.

Her expression was filled with sympathy and helplessness as she took my hand and spoke earnestly, “Jenna, please don’t blame Miles for hiding this from you. For four years, Wendy has swallowed her pride and never asked to be official.”

Four years?

My mind went blank. My stomach dropped. I suddenly found it impossible to breathe.

Did this mean that Wendy’s existence was not just a drunken accident half a year ago?

Ruth gently patted the back of my hand and tried to persuade me softly, “I watched you grow up, Jenna. I care about you. But you have to think about Miles, too.

“With the trauma you suffered, you won’t let him touch you for ten days or even two weeks at a time. He’s a healthy, robust man.

“You can’t make him live like a monk forever just because of your issues.

“Wendy said the kid will call you ‘Mom’, too. You’re still the true daughter-in-law of the Lumb family.

“Nothing changes. Wendy will never get in your way. Isn’t that good enough?”

...

My legs instantly gave way. I collapsed onto the chair behind me.

After that, I stopped registering a single word Ruth said.

My memories and the truth kept clashing in my head. It felt like I was being torn apart.

Four years.

Every time Miles went out of town for rescue missions, he stayed on a voice call with me all night.

He said he knew I would feel insecure and was afraid of the dark. Listening to his breathing would let me fall asleep.

Once, he got into danger in a disaster zone. He even risked his life to find a backup battery to report regularly to me throughout the night.

What I believed to be his total devotion had been a lie.

All those all-night calls he made were just to keep me calm. Was Wendy lying right next to him the whole time?

Was the child sleeping soundly beside him, too?

He had lain with another woman and her child. At the same time, he soothed me on the phone. I was the clueless fool on the line.

I felt completely overwhelmed by how absurd the situation was.

I stood up, ignored Ruth, and stumbled out of the hospital room.

Since everyone else’s idea of a happy ending did not include me, I might as well just give up on being his wife.