My Marriage: His Debt to Another Woman Chapter 19

My Marriage: His Debt to Another Woman Chapter 19

I’ll admit, when I first wrote that email, part of me had hoped to elicit a little sympathy. I thought it might help him understand the emotion behind my work.

But sitting here with Leo, I found I didn’t want to hide anything.

“It’s the story of a foolish artist who fell in love with a man shackled by guilt,” I said. “She thought she could fix him. In the end, she realized she was just a tool he used to pay a debt to someone else.”

As the words left my mouth, I felt a sense of calm.

The fact that I could say it all so plainly meant the wounds were no longer as deep.

Leo smiled, a small dimple appearing on his left cheek.

“That man lost something precious,” he said. “But that was never your burden to carry. Your work deserves a bigger stage. From now on, you focus on your designs. Leave the rest to me.”

I smiled back and shook his hand again.

The meeting had gone better than I could have ever imagined.

For the next week, I threw myself into my work. The apartment was filled with the sound of my pencil scratching across paper and the soft clink of metal tools.

Until one afternoon, when the doorbell began to ring, insistently and without pause.

Leo would never show up unannounced, so at first, I ignored it, assuming they would eventually give up and leave.

But they didn’t.

The ringing stopped, only to be replaced by knocking, each rap on the door heavier than the last.

Finally, I strode to the door and pulled it open.

Jake stood on the other side.

He was holding several shopping bags from high-end baby boutiques. The moment he saw me, a strained smile stretched across his face.

“Elara, I came to see you,” he said. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m the baby’s father, after all.”