After the Divorce, He Realized Too Late

I walked through the door with the pregnancy test results tucked in my pocket, and Jasper Morton's voice drifted over, light as air. "Wallis says she can't wait any longer. She wants us to get divorced tomorrow."

"Okay." I kept walking, didn't break stride.

I didn't look up, but I could feel his gaze settle on the top of my head.

He was probably wondering why, this time, I didn't argue.

Neither of us said another word until Jasper spoke again. "Once Wallis's emotions have stabilized a bit, we can remarry."

My answer came without hesitation. "No need. We're finally getting divorced. There's no remarrying after this."

This time I did look up. Jasper's brow creased, just slightly.

——

I had arrived at the VIP room of the city's most exclusive private club gasping for breath, and from inside came the sound of a group placing bets.

"How long do you think it'll take May Henson to get here?"

"I'm betting fifteen minutes. It's already been almost ten. No way she makes it."

"Don't be so sure. Every other time Jasper needed something, May showed up in under ten minutes. Factor in rush-hour traffic and I say she'll be here in twelve."

"Maybe this time she won't come at all. Unless she's a complete fool, getting played by our dear Wallis over and over and falling for it every single time."

"She'll come. May always puts Jasper first. Sure, the only reason he married her was to break up her engagement to Chad Delgado, but May is head over heels for the guy. She'd sooner die than leave him hanging."

My hand tightened around the door handle. So this was what they all thought of me.

And while this group sat around dissecting my devotion like a parlor game, my husband Jasper Morton was in there whispering to Wallis James, their faces so close they were nearly touching.

The truth was, I'd known my role since three months into the marriage.

I was the obstacle Jasper had removed for his foster sister. I was his lapdog. The nuisance he couldn't shake off.

For three years of marriage, I put everything about Jasper first. Whenever anyone said he'd had too much to drink or caught a cold, I dropped whatever I was doing and rushed to his side.

But in the eyes of his friends, I was nothing more than a bet. A joke.

Today was our third wedding anniversary. I'd cooked all his favorite dishes and waited for him to come home.

Instead, I got a text from Wallis: Jasper's migraine is acting up. He's at the private club. Bring his medication, hurry.

The moment I saw it, I grabbed the pills and flew out the door.

I hadn't even stepped inside when I heard the conversation. My fingers clenched around the medicine bottle. I was about to leave when someone asked Jasper, "Don't you think it's kind of messed up, tricking May like this every time?"

"It's fine. As long as Wallis is happy."

His words drove into my chest like a needle. I turned my head without thinking and saw him draw Wallis gently into his arms.

In front of his circle, he never bothered hiding what he and Wallis were to each other.

Through the crack in the door I could see everything, every gesture, every touch. Something possessed me to raise my phone and capture the image of them holding each other.

In that moment, my mind was made up. I was divorcing Jasper Morton.

I turned to leave, and a wave of nausea rolled through my stomach.

I ignored it and went home. Jasper, of course, didn't come back that night.

The next morning, a violent surge of nausea hit me the second I got out of bed. It struck me then that my period was late.

I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror and asked myself: it couldn't be that coincidental, could it?