He Chose Her, I Left At Once

The bridal shop staff swarmed the living room. The white dress was on a stand, its train pooling across the floor. When Felix Smith walked in, he was holding a chestnut cake. The one from my favorite shop. A two-hour wait in line. He used to buy it for me every week. He set the cake on the table and reached out his hand to me. "Why haven't you changed yet? Haven't you been looking forward to this for half a year?" I pulled away. His hand hovered in the air. "Nancy?" I handed him my phone. The screen was still on that schedule. A Full Life for Shirley Jones. Felix saw the sentence, and his face fell. The first thing he did wasn't to explain. It was to turn off the screen. "You went through my calendar?" I laughed. "Say that again, Felix." The bridal shop staff sensed something was off and filed out one by one. The door clicked shut. Just the two of us were left in the room, along with that blindingly white wedding dress. I asked him, "What does the first one mean?" He didn't answer. So I read it aloud for him. "Get Shirley pregnant with my child before the wedding." The words were filthy. Coming out of my mouth, they sounded even filthier. Felix rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Nancy, I'll take care of it. It won't affect you." "Take care of it?" I looked him in the eye. "You mean arrange for me to raise the kid you have with Shirley?" He frowned. "It's not what you think. Shirley' health was wrecked because of me. She can never have a normal family now. I can't just turn a blind eye." I asked, "So you're going to sleep with her?" Felix looked up. "No. It'll be a medical procedure. No physical contact." I enunciated every single word. "You're giving her your sperm. Letting her carry it for ten months. And then having me play the mother. And that's 'no physical contact' to you?" His lips pressed into a thin line. "Nancy, don't make this sound so ugly." "I'm making it ugly?" I hurled my phone at his chest. "Felix, you've turned my marriage into a damn surgical procedure." Keys jingled from outside the door. Shirley walked in. White dress, hair loose, holding a file folder. The moment she saw me, her eyes welled up with tears. "Nancy, don't blame Felix. It's all my fault." I didn't say a word. She handed me the folder. "I just wanted you to see this. I'm not trying to play the victim." I opened it. The first document was her medical report. Low probability of natural conception. The second document was a diagnosis certificate. When I saw the name, my fingers tightened against the paper. Nancy Sterling. Diagnosis: Primary infertility. Recommendation: Adoption. I had never had this test done. And I had never even seen this doctor. I held that piece of paper up in front of Smith's face. "You two even faked a medical condition for me?" Felix read the contents, and his eyes went cold. "Shirley." Shirley flinched away slightly. "I just asked a friend for a template in advance. We'll need it for the paperwork later. Nancy, you're perfectly healthy. Not having a kid won't be a big deal for you. But for me... I really don't have any other choice." As she spoke, the tears started falling. Crying quietly, and oh-so-practiced. I just watched her. "You have choices. You've just set your sights on hijacking my life." The blood drained from her face. Felix stepped in front of her. "Nancy, she's already been through enough." I watched the way he moved to shield her. I guess when people change, there is no transition period. All it takes is for them to stand on the wrong side just once, and everything becomes crystal clear. I grabbed the scissors from the table and pointed them at the wedding dress train. With one sharp snip, I cut right through it. The white fabric split open. Felix's pupils dilated. "Nancy!" Another snip. "The wedding is off." A third snip. "You can raise your own damn kid." A fourth snip. "Felix." I threw the scissors down at his feet. "Don't use my name to clear your guilty conscience." I headed straight for the door. Shirley reached out to grab my arm. "Nancy, please don't go." I shook her off. She stumbled back two steps, and Felix caught her. The way he looked at me completely changed. "Do you really have to be like this?" I pulled the door wide open. "Yeah. It's f*****g disgusting."