Divorce After My Abusive Husband's Slap

On my way home from work, I bought about 11 pounds of grapes. When Mabel Kelly saw the receipt, she snapped a dozen photos and posted them to the family WhatsApp group.

"Look, everyone! Our William rises early to drive the bus each day, and just see how his wife splurges, spending nearly $40 on grapes!"

The group chat erupted immediately.

"Sister-in-law, you've got way too much patience. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with photos. I'd just march her back to her parents' house."

"I never thought she was the type to manage a household. Wait till William gets home; give her a proper telling-off, and she'll straighten out."

Mabel even shared a video of herself on her knees, scrubbing the floor with a cloth, tears streaming down her face.

"I can't say anything because people might accuse me of not cleaning properly and force me to use a cloth."

When William got home, he hit me hard enough to make my nose bleed.

"Jennifer, if you don't kneel and apologize to my mom today, I'm divorcing you right now!"

I looked at the messages in the chat and realized Mabel was at it again. Without a word, I posted another video to the group.

In the video, Mabel was wearing black stockings, bright red lipstick, and was dancing suggestively. "Darling, I sent you ten rockets; aren't you going to give me a kiss?"

The lively group chat fell silent. After a long pause, Damian Miller finally messaged.

"Jennifer, take it down quickly. These face-swap videos are so convincing now. Your mom's going to be furious."

I replied immediately, "Oops, Damian, I accidentally posted it, and it’s been over two minutes, so I can’t retract it. But this video hasn’t been face-swapped. See? My mom's wearing her pearl ring."

As soon as I said that, everyone in the group stopped lurking.

Hope Scott chimed in, "Jennifer, you're too petty as a daughter-in-law. Your mom just posted about grapes and didn't even criticize you, and you're holding a grudge for that?"

"Exactly, even if an elder hits you, you should simply accept it as the younger person."

She might not have said anything directly, but others were more than willing to scold me on her behalf.

Her son earns around $700 a month driving a bus. Despite being a lawyer with a somewhat unstable income, I average about $3,000 a month. Yet buying myself some grapes gets me criticized. Why should I endure this?

"Hope, how am I holding a grudge? If I were truly resentful, I wouldn’t have helped your son out when he got caught in a compromising situation."

After a moment, a 60-second voice message from Hope came through. I didn’t even bother listening; I just hit delete.

"Hope, your son wasn’t just with women; I didn’t mention it was men too. Why are you so worked up?"

Seeing as Hope wasn't replying, Damian tried to mediate.

"Jennifer, this really isn’t right, airing out family issues like that. Remember all the help Hope gave you at your wedding? You should support your cousin; it’s your duty."

Thinking back to the wedding, where the gift money didn’t add up, and checking the footage, it turned out Damian pocketed nearly $3,000. William and Mabel insisted I shouldn’t confront him about it.

I posted yet another video. In it, Damian was slyly slipping money under his seat while no one was looking. Sitting on nearly $3,000, he appeared a bit taller.

I added, "Hope really went through a lot of trouble. At the reception, she packed up all the leftover wine and cigars to take home, saving us the hassle."

"But Damian had it toughest, putting in all that effort to swipe $3,000. Next time, if a relative has a wedding, let him handle the gifts alone; it’d be more convenient."

Before Damian had a chance to react, Claire Richards jumped into the group video chat. As soon as I picked up, her high-pitched voice caught me off guard.

"I knew it when Cameron got married! With no outsiders at the event, who else would shamelessly steal the $8,000 jewelry set? And you told me not to report it to the police, worried about gossip and its effect on the kids."

"So, it was you, you good-for-nothing bachelor, stealing even from your own nephew. Are you even human, you old scoundrel? Why haven't you been hit by a car yet?"

Wait, there’s more to this story? I listened with interest. As for William's slap, I've got time to deal with that, but you can't miss a moment of such juicy drama.

Claire continued yelling for a good ten minutes before Damian finally snapped.

"Claire Lynch, are you done? As an uncle, why would I steal from my nephew? I was just keeping it safe so it wouldn’t get lost in the chaos of the wedding."

"Two years ago, when you were having those twins and didn’t want Cameron's dad to find out, you asked me to go with you, did I hesitate? Can't you see Jennifer's just stirring the pot?"

Wow, this was getting even more explosive. Claire is almost sixty this year, so two years ago, she was in her mid-fifties, nearly menopausal. Just who was she having twins with?

I was still pondering this when I asked, "Damian, don’t accuse wrongly. Weren’t you keeping the jewelry safe? It’s been two years, where is it?"

Claire immediately backed me up, "Bring it to me today! If you delay, I'll report it to the police!"

As I was listening, my phone was suddenly snatched away. William stood next to me, his face full of anger.

"Jennifer, what do you think you're doing?"