Our Wedding: I Divorced Him for His Son

At my wedding, one of our friends joked with the young son of Julian Hollis's late best friend. "Hey, kiddo, where's your dad? I don't see him anywhere." The boy grinned from ear to ear and pointed straight at my groom onstage. "My dad's up there! His name's Julian Hollis!" The entire crowd burst into laughter. But when Julian slipped the ring onto my finger, I noticed something was wrong. His palm was drenched in sweat. After the wedding, he shut himself in our room and chain-smoked one cigarette after another. "What Leo said today is true, but it's only because my bro asked me to look after his wife, Claire Bennett, right before he died. And she wanted a child so badly... Relax, okay? Those two will never get in the way of what we have. I swear." I forced a smile. "Great. You're just the most loyal, decent guy in the world, aren't you?" Julian let out a long sigh of relief. "I knew you'd understand. Oh, by the way. I promised Leo we'd take him and his mom with us on our honeymoon. Make sure you book an extra room, okay?" With that, he turned and walked out. The second the door clicked shut, my phone suddenly started ringing. The man on the other end was drunk, his voice thick with tears. "Nora, I'm f*****g in love with you. I don't even care if I'm just your side piece!" I froze for a second and said, "Good." ***** I stared at the door Julian had just closed behind him, and it felt like an invisible hand had clamped around my heart. Drowning in that sharp pain, I collapsed onto the bed. All the little red flags I'd brushed aside for so long came flooding back. Once, he'd completely forgotten about our marriage registration appointment because Leo refused to take his medicine. Another time, when Claire casually mentioned that she'd never gotten to wear a wedding dress for her own wedding, he'd come up with a dozen excuses to get out of my wedding dress fitting. Back then, I told myself Julian was simply too loyal for his own good, too bad at setting priorities between the people he cared about. But now that I thought about it, that wasn't it at all. He'd been lying to my face to keep me hanging on one side while doting on Claire and their son, Leo, down to the smallest detail on the other. But if he'd been lying to me for so long, why tell me the truth on our actual wedding day? I rolled over slowly, and hot tears spilled down my cheeks, soaking a dark patch into the pillow. From the living room, I could hear Julian and Claire talking. I wiped my tears and stepped out of the bedroom, only to find Julian with his arm around Claire's shoulder. The second he spotted me, he jerked his hand away. "Nora, did you book the room? The lights at Claire's place went out, so..." I didn't wait for him to finish. I spun around and headed straight back toward the bedroom, but he stormed over and grabbed my wrist, his voice dropping to a furious growl. "What's your problem? We have guests here. Stop throwing a fit. Did you book the room for Claire and Leo?" I didn't care about saving his face. I wrenched my arm free. "Sorry. I can't book it." The moment the words left my mouth, his voice flared with anger. "What do you mean you can't book it? Nora, can you stop being so immature and acting like a spoiled brat? You don't get to call all the shots around here. It's time you learned to accept reality." I lifted my head and stared at Julian. He stood there looking so self-righteous, as if he were the one on the moral high ground. Tears burned behind my eyes. So that was why he'd told me the truth on our wedding day. He'd thought that once we were married, I'd have no choice but to swallow everything he did and accept it without question. Julian pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, acting as if I were the unreasonable one, as if I'd become impossible to deal with. When Claire saw how frustrated he was, she immediately pulled Leo over. Her expression softened into one of wounded innocence as she looked between us. "Julian, Nora, don't fight, okay? This is all my fault. Leo has never been on a trip since he was born. Julian only offered because he feels bad for us... Leo, say goodbye to Julian and Nora. We're leaving." Her eyes grew redder by the second, and her voice trembled more with every word. "Mommy, why are you crying? Am I not gonna have a dad anymore?" Claire sniffled, trying to suppress the sting in her nose. She shot a quick glance at Julian, who was sitting in the wooden chair, then pulled Leo toward the door. But they'd barely taken a few steps when Leo yanked his hand free and pitter-pattered toward me. "You bad woman! You stole my daddy and you're bullying my mommy..." I didn't see it coming. I pushed him away on reflex, and he landed hard on his butt. The recoil sent me stumbling backward, and my back slammed against the edge of the dining chair. "Nora, what the hell are you doing pushing a kid?!" The second Julian saw Leo fall, he lunged over, dropped into a squat, and swept the boy into his arms. Leo buried his face against Julian's shoulder and wailed his heart out. "Nora, the world doesn't revolve around you, you know that? Claire and Leo have been bending over backward to keep the peace. What more do you want from them? Do you really want to rob Leo of a dad for the rest of his life?!" I clenched my teeth, fighting through the pain shooting up my back and the hot burn of tears rising in my throat as I forced myself upright. "Julian, if you're dead set on protecting these two, then we're getting a divorce." His hand, which had been rubbing Leo's back to calm him, froze in midair. He stared at me for a long, tense moment before pointing toward the front door, his voice dripping with venom. "Fine. If you've got the guts, Nora, get out right now. Let's see who else in this city would take you in besides me." I stared at his furious, overprotective expression, swallowed the bitterness in my mouth, and walked straight past them and out of the house. "Julian, Nora must be really upset. Go after her, won't you? It's late. A woman alone can't go far. Hurry up and bring her back." Julian was still soothing Leo. He glanced at my retreating figure. "No need. Every time she throws a fit, she's back within an hour. People like Nora only learn their lesson after they've had a taste of how hard life can be. She'll calm down and trudge back on her own."