Twelve Years Of Salvation, Six Months Of Betrayal Chapter 02

Twelve Years Of Salvation, Six Months Of Betrayal Chapter 02

The next morning, while James was still out cold with fever, I grabbed a thermos and headed out.

Even though our marriage was already in tatters, I still went to the hospital.

My mother-in-law Margaret had been bedridden for nearly a year with severe kidney failure, and I’d been the one taking care of her, staying up night after night.

I told myself this would be the last thing I did for her. The final chapter of a twelve-year marriage.

When I pushed open the hospital room door, Margaret was bragging about me to another patient’s family.

“Emily has been a godsend since I got sick. She’s more devoted than my own daughter ever would’ve been.”

Her face lit up when she saw me. She hurriedly told me to sit down and rest.

I poured out the soup I’d been making all night and handed it to her.

“Here, drink it while it’s hot. James had a fever last night. I should get back soon.”

She was just raising the bowl to her lips when the phone propped on her bedside table started ringing.

A video call. The name on the screen said “Sophie.”

“Emily, dear, can you answer that?” she said, her hands full of soup. “It’s probably James’s cousin.”

I didn’t overthink it. I reached over and hit the answer button.

The moment I saw that familiar young face, I went pale.

It was the woman James had been tangled up with six months ago. Sophia Blake.

On the screen, she was holding a little boy, maybe three or so.

The kid beamed at the camera and shouted, “Grandma! Look what Daddy bought me!”

Sophia gave a coy little pout and complained, “Mom, James had too much to drink here last night and ran a fever. I let him sleep in.”

“That crazy woman didn’t make a scene about him coming home late, did she?”

The room fell silent.

Margaret flinched so hard she dropped the bowl of scalding soup all over the blanket.

“Emily! Emily, let me explain!” She lunged for the phone, ignoring her own burned hands.

I stepped back, staring at the little boy on the screen who was the spitting image of James. A bone-deep cold spread through me.

“His cousin? That’s what you call a cousin?”

Caught red handed, Margaret just sighed and dropped the act.

She took my hand, her voice dripping with pity and resignation.

“Emily, don’t be too hard on James. Sophie has been so patient all these four years. She never once asked him to make it official.”

Four years?

My mind went blank. My chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.

So this woman wasn’t a drunken accident six months ago. She’d been around for four years.

Margaret patted my hand and lowered her voice.

“I’ve watched you grow up, Emily. I love you. But you have to think about what James needs too.”

“With what you went through, you won’t let him touch you for weeks at a time. He’s a healthy man. You can’t expect him to just ignore that.”

“Sophie already said the boy can call you ‘Aunt Emily.’ You’ll still be his wife.”

“Nothing has to change. Sophie won’t interfere. Isn’t that better for everyone?”

My legs gave out and I collapsed into the chair behind me.

I didn’t hear another word she said.

My memories and the truth kept clashing, pulling me in opposite directions until I felt like I was coming apart.

Four years.

Every time James went on a remote rescue mission, he’d stay on a call with me all night.

He said he knew I had trouble sleeping, that I was afraid of the dark, that just hearing him breathe would help.

Once, when he was trapped in a disaster zone, he risked his life to find a backup battery just so he could keep checking in with me.

But what I thought was love, real, unwavering love, turned out to be nothing but a lie.

Those all-night calls meant to comfort me, was Sophia lying right next to him?

Was their son sleeping nearby?

While he whispered reassurances to me, the one who didn’t know any better.

A wave of absurdity washed over me.

I stood up, didn’t bother acknowledging Margaret, and stumbled out of the room.

If there was no place for me in the perfect life everyone else believed in, fine. I’d just walk away from this marriage.