I Took My Test & Found Them Married

Chapter 3

I woke with a start in the middle of the night and reached for the other side of the bed. It was cold.

The door wasn't quite shut. Victor and Monica's voices drifted through the gap.

"Monica, maybe we should just tell her. I'm tired of this."

Her reply was urgent. "No! She's still sick. How are you going to tell her that her boyfriend of 7 years has married her best friend? I don't want to hurt her anymore. Come home at the end of the year and marry her. I'll have the baby, and we'll stay in Bellacourt. You and I won't see each other again."

Victor sighed and pulled her into his arms.

"I told you I'd take responsibility for you. I'll keep putting Nadine off for now. I'll figure it out."

Monica's voice broke. "I've betrayed her. How did things get this far? Why did I have to fall in love with you?"

Victor was still murmuring reassurances, but I couldn't make out another word.

For a moment, I wondered if I'd even understood what they'd said.

Then it sank in, and the pain and sheer absurdity overwhelmed me.

They were having a baby, too.

I could no longer deny the truth. They'd lied to me.

They'd fallen in love, gotten married, and conceived a child behind my back. They'd kept me in the dark and made a complete fool of me.

Their conversation played over and over in my head. This 5-year relationship and the wedding I'd dreamed of had become a cruel joke.

My tears wouldn't stop. A large patch of my pillowcase grew wet.

I bit my lip, silently cursing myself for being so useless. I should have thrown open the door and screamed at them. I should have demanded to know why they'd gotten together and why they'd lied.

But every time I thought of our past, I couldn't bring myself to ask.

I'd broken my leg in a car accident 4 years ago. The doctors had told me I'd spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I'd fallen into severe depression and asked Victor to break up with me.

"Nadine, I'll do everything I can to get you well again. No matter what happens, I'm not leaving you."

That year, I'd tried several times to end my life. During the worst attempt, I'd swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills at home. When I woke in the hospital, Victor was crying like a child beside my bed.

"Nadine, please don't hurt yourself again. I wouldn't know how to go on without you."

After that, I began taking an active part in my treatment.

Victor chased down contracts for his company during the day and took me to rehabilitation at night. He used his first earnings to bring in a specialist from Westhaven.

After a year of almost hopeless effort, I finally stood again.

We'd been through so much that it had never occurred to me we might separate.

But now, I knew I had to leave.