Vows Faded, Memories Tarnished

At eight months pregnant, my long-distance husband, worried I’d get jealous, replaced his young, beautiful secretary with an old woman. Then, for our anniversary, he sent a nine-carat diamond ring from overseas. Everyone gushed, telling me how lucky I was. But I only needed one glance at the ring before I coldly dialed Zachary’s number. “I don’t want this ring. And I don’t want to see you again. We’re getting a divorce.” A hush fell over the room. On the other end of the line, Zachary’s voice trembled. “What? What did I do wrong? I’ve spent years flying back and forth for you, showering you with gifts.” “You’re pregnant and sensitive, so I even fired the secretary I’d had for years and hired a woman old enough to be my mother.” “And this ring… Jane, it’s one-of-a-kind. Have I not been good enough to you?” My face was a mask. “Then you can give the ring to your new secretary and spend the rest of your life with her. We’re done.”

1 That night, Zachary boarded a red-eye flight, enduring more than ten hours in the air to come back. He came straight to my hospital room. The moment he appeared, I pulled the divorce papers from my bag and laid them in front of him. “Since you’re here,” I said calmly, “you can just sign these.” Zachary’s face was ashen, his voice raspy. “Honey, you’re just saying this to get me to come home, right? I’m here now. You can stop.” The other patients in the ward started whispering. “A divorce? What a shame. Look at her belly, she’s about to pop!” “I know her. Her husband works abroad, but he’s always sending gifts to the hospital. He treats her like a queen.” “She’s just being difficult. I heard he sent her a nine-carat diamond yesterday, and she wasn’t happy with it!” The murmurs of condemnation grew louder, and the glares of disgust became impossible to ignore. Everyone saw me as a spoiled, ungrateful wife, taking a stand for the poor, wronged Zachary. And why wouldn’t they? For years, Zachary had been the perfect husband. We were childhood sweethearts, each other’s first love. He spent every day finding new ways to make me smile. When the company needed someone to manage the new branch in the States, I was hesitant to send anyone else. He volunteered immediately. After that, he practically lived on red-eye flights, shuttling between two countries, collecting hundreds of boarding passes just for a few hours with me. When I got pregnant, he replaced his young, gorgeous secretary with an older woman, just to put my mind at ease. My friends and family all said I’d hit the jackpot. But that was all in the past. I turned away from him, my voice unwavering. “Think whatever you want. This divorce is happening today.” His eyes reddened. He grabbed my hand, his voice cracking as he begged, “Jane, please, don’t do this. If you don’t like the ring, I’ll buy you something else. I’ll quit my job, I’ll stay here with you until the baby comes, okay?” “Not okay.” I pulled my hand from his grasp, my gaze like ice. “The only thing I want from you is a divorce.” Seeing my resolve, Zachary’s new secretary, Linda, rushed forward, her voice shrill. “Mrs. Lewis, how can you do this to him?” “He dropped a multi-million dollar contract and flew for over ten hours on a red-eye just to appease your little tantrum!” “And that ring! Do you have any idea what he went through to have a top designer create that for you? Are you just going to throw his devotion away like it’s trash?” I shot her a look of pure contempt. “You’re just a secretary. What gives you the right to speak here?” “And since you feel so sorry for him, why don’t you marry him instead?”

2 Linda’s face flushed a deep, mottled red. “Mrs. Lewis, what are you saying? Look at my age! You can’t be jealous of me!” Zachary’s brow furrowed. “Honey, isn’t your pregnancy making you a little paranoid? Me and Linda? How is that even possible…” The onlookers sized Linda up and couldn’t help but snicker. “Is this woman insane? She’s jealous of a grandma?” “That lady has to be in her fifties, maybe sixties. Her husband is young, handsome, and rich. If he wanted to cheat, he’d have women throwing themselves at him. Why would he pick someone old enough to be his mother?” “Exactly! How desperate would he have to be to go for her?” The laughter grew, and Zachary’s expression filled with exasperation. He gripped my hand tightly, his voice a low, pleading whisper. “I hired an older secretary specifically so you wouldn’t get jealous. How can you still think the worst of me?” “We have so much history, Jane. Please, don’t do this. We can’t get a divorce.” I stared at him and let out a cold laugh. “Fine. Then fire her.” Zachary froze, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. “Mrs. Lewis!” Linda suddenly dropped to her knees in front of everyone, tears streaming down her face. “My son has a terminal illness, and my husband is dead,” she sobbed. “Mr. Lewis only gave me this job out of pity. You can’t make him fire me!” “My life doesn’t matter, but my son is in the ICU, waiting for money to save his life! I really, really need this job.” Linda’s wails were heartbreakingly convincing. The crowd murmured in sympathy, turning on me. “She’s in such a horrible situation. How can you take away her livelihood just because of your own insecurities?” “Yeah, this is all in your head. The poor woman is desperate. Give her a break!” “You’re eight months pregnant. Don’t you have any compassion?” Seeing the tide turn in her favor, Linda clutched at the hem of my gown. “Mrs. Lewis, I promise I’ll stay far away from Mr. Lewis. I’ll only do my work… Please, just let me keep my job…” When I remained unmoved, Zachary’s patience finally snapped. “Jane, this has gone too far. Linda is just a pitiful woman.” “I’ve gone too far?” I scoffed, my eyes locking with his. “Zachary, the disgusting things you’ve done are far worse than anything I could imagine. Don’t force me to say them all out loud.” A flash of panic crossed Zachary’s face before he blustered, his voice rising. “What have I done? Everything I do is to make you happy, to give you and our child a better life!” Linda wiped her tears and stood up, pointing a trembling finger at me. “How can you say that about him, Mrs. Lewis?” “While you’ve been here, resting and being cared for, Mr. Lewis has been working himself to the bone, skipping meals and staying up all night. What could he possibly have done? He’s a fool for loving a woman like you!” I let out another cold laugh, my gaze shifting between the two of them. “Working late into the night? Are you sure it was work, or something else filthy? The two of you know better than anyone.” With that, I threw the divorce papers at his chest and turned to leave. Just then, my mother-in-law burst into the room, breathless. “Jane, what’s going on? I heard you want a divorce. What happened?” She grabbed my arm, her face etched with concern. “Did that bastard Zachary do something to hurt you? You tell me, and I’ll handle him!”

3 I looked at Zachary’s mother and took a deep breath, but said nothing. She was a fair woman; for years, she had treated me like her own daughter. After I got pregnant, she’d been by my side day and night, fussing over my every need. It was this caring husband and doting mother-in-law who had pulled the wool over my eyes for so long, making me believe I was the luckiest woman alive. What a joke. I didn’t have all the evidence yet. I couldn’t reveal the whole truth. So I remained silent. Seeing my silence, my mother-in-law grew more frantic and turned on Zachary. “You! What did you do?” Zachary opened his mouth, then closed it with a heavy sigh, unable to speak. The onlookers chimed in, defending him to his mother. “Your son didn’t do anything wrong! It’s your daughter-in-law who’s being unreasonable and paranoid!” “She’s demanding he fire his secretary. It’s a misunderstanding. The woman is ancient!” “Exactly! It’s ridiculous to get jealous over an old woman!” My mother-in-law glanced at Linda, her expression a mix of disbelief and weary resignation. She turned back to me. “Jane, honey, are you just overwhelmed by the pregnancy? You’ve always been so level-headed. Why would you want a divorce over… her?” “This woman is nearly my age. It’s impossible…” “Are you upset that Zachary’s been away, that he hasn’t been here for you? Look, the baby’s almost due. I’ll make him stay home this month to be with you!” My face was stone. “No. I want a divorce.” “Jane!” Zachary’s voice was raw. He fell to his knees before me, his eyes red-rimmed and pleading. “Honey, if I did something wrong, just tell me. Don’t use divorce to threaten me.” “I know I haven’t been around enough, with us living in different countries. But it was for the company! To provide for you and our baby!” He grew more frantic, tears streaming down his face. The crowd was moved. “Pregnancy is hard, but you have to be understanding. You can’t just throw the word divorce around.” “He’s such a good husband. We’ve all seen it.” “And if you’re going to divorce him, you need a real reason. Not… not because of some old lady.” At this, Linda edged closer again, sobbing. “If I’m the reason you’re divorcing Mr. Lewis, then I’ll leave! Maybe this is just my fate. To lose my husband, and then my son… Once he’s gone, I’ll just go with him…” The crowd erupted in indignation on her behalf, pointing at me. “See? Now you’re going to drive this poor woman to her death!” “You rich people have no heart! Her son is her whole world! He has a terminal illness! Do you really think she has the time or energy to seduce your husband?” “Besides, look at her! Your husband isn’t that desperate!” The accusations rained down on me while Zachary and Linda wept together. I ignored them all, pushing the divorce papers closer to him. “If you want to be a saint and save her and her son, that’s your business.” “Sign these papers, we get a divorce, and I wash my hands of you.” “And you’ll walk away with nothing.”

4 Gasps filled the room. Everyone stared at me, utterly baffled. Zachary’s face drained of color. “Jane! You have to stop this!” he roared. His hysteria didn’t move me. I said nothing. The air thickened with tension. My mother-in-law’s gaze darted between me and Zachary before she sat on the edge of my bed. “Jane,” she said softly, “I’m not one to take sides, and I know you’re not an unreasonable person. Whatever it is, you can tell me. Don’t be afraid.” “But his secretary… you must be sensitive because of the pregnancy. You’re overthinking it.” “Besides, you’re eight months along. The baby will be here any day. You can’t let your child grow up without a father.” At the mention of the baby, my hand instinctively went to my stomach. A pang of regret shot through me. Seeing his chance, Zachary pressed on. “Honey, Mom’s right. You can’t let our child grow up without a father just because of some paranoid jealousy. Please, stop this, okay?” He humbled himself completely, his eyes growing redder by the second. Just then, a doctor knocked and entered the room. He scanned the crowd, his eyes finally landing on me. “Jane Quinn,” he said sternly, “regarding what you asked me about before, I’m telling you again: you are too far along. You absolutely cannot terminate the pregnancy.” Stunned silence. Zachary froze, the blood draining from his face. Before he could react, the doctor turned to him. “You’re the husband, right? A pregnant woman’s emotional state is critical. You need to be here for her. She’s come to so many appointments, and I haven’t seen you at a single one. That’s completely irresponsible.” Zachary, looking ashamed, could only nod. As the doctor left, Zachary’s face contorted with a rage he could no longer contain. “Jane, what the hell are you thinking?” he snarled. “You’re eight months pregnant and you wanted to get an abortion? Are you trying to kill yourself?” My mother-in-law’s eyes welled with tears. “Jane,” she sobbed, “we spent years trying for this baby through IVF! What could possibly be so bad that you’d consider this?” Her words struck a nerve, and a wave of sorrow washed over me. Of course, I knew how precious this baby was. I knew how dangerous an abortion would be at this stage. But I grew up in a single-parent home. I was terrified of my child suffering the same judgment and whispers that I did. I took a shaky breath and looked at Zachary. “I’ll keep the baby. But we are getting a divorce. You will go back to the States and you will never see us again.” The words had barely left my mouth when Zachary’s knees hit the floor with a sickening thud. His hand shot out, grabbing a fruit knife from the side table. He pressed the blade against his own wrist. “If you divorce me,” he choked out, “I’ll die right here, right now.” The room erupted into chaos. The crowd could no longer hold back. “Just agree with him! Do you want him to die?” “She wants to abort her baby and divorce her husband over an old woman! How can anyone be so heartless?” “He’s such a good man! She’s throwing it all away!” My mother-in-law knelt beside him, weeping. “I’m begging you, Jane… What has Zachary ever done to you? Are you trying to destroy our family?” The insults intensified, a barrage of ugly words hurled in my direction. “Fine.” My voice, sudden and strangely calm, cut through the noise. The room fell silent. Every eye was on me. I slowly scanned the furious faces, my gaze finally settling on Zachary. “You all want a reason? I’ll give you a reason why this marriage has to end.”