His First Love Wore My Wedding Ring

The day my mother got her diagnosis was the day I first heard the voices.

She stood in the sun for a full half hour, clutching the report, before she worked up the nerve to ring the doorbell.

Son, could you take a look for me? Is this something they can treat? How much would it cost?

Bent low, her voice was thick with the deference she reserved for her son-in-law, the medical-school professor.

"Small things don't need treating. Big things... there's no money at home right now."

"It stinks in here! Dad, close the door already! Grandma Harding's still waiting for you to look over her business plan!"

She froze where she stood, the foot she'd started to step forward pulling stiffly back.

"No money, my foot! Isn't there still a two-hundred-thousand-dollar investment deal in that drawer, the one for his first love's mother?"

"You can find another husband, you can have another kid, but you only get one mother!"

"This guy's got money to open a salon for his ex's mom, but no money to treat his own mother-in-law. The heroine must be blind!"

The voices rose and fell around me, and my heart cramped with a sharp ache.

Just like they said, I found the big contract: a two-hundred-thousand-dollar stake in the salon.

My breath caught.

Then I looked back at the security footage and saw my mother smiling, embarrassed,

pressing a few jars of her homemade sweet osmanthus preserve into their hands as she left.

"Little ones love sweet things. I made this specially for Nate."

What my mother didn't know

was that the one who loved sweets as a child had been her daughter, and that her grandson only poured the preserve down the drain before I got home, his face twisted in disgust.

A marriage like this, a mother-and-son bond like this.

It was time to let it all go.

1.

"Seen enough? Nate's hungry. Go make dinner already."

Fergus Sawyer leaned against the doorframe, his eyes drifting idly to the computer screen.

When I didn't get up, a flicker of impatience crossed his face.

"Back for two minutes and you're already checking the cameras. What lies did your mother tell you about me?"

"If she really were sick, wouldn't she have told you? You know how many scams there are out there preying on old country women through those short videos. Some old man probably fed her a line."

"And anyway, there's no cash lying around the house right now. Can't you be a little more sensible instead of picking a fight with me over something this small?"

My hands shook with anger. I tapped the screen and turned it toward him.

"I was checking the cameras because Nate's gold keepsake locket is missing!"

"Didn't you just take two hundred thousand to open a salon for Stephanie Harding's mother? So how is there no money?"

"You say my mother has no boundaries. What about Stephanie's mother? An ill-bred thief!"

On the screen, Stephanie's mother lifted the gold locket off Nate and walked away like she owned the place.

Fergus's face went dark. He killed the feed with a sharp click.

Before he could get his excuse out,

Nate shoved the door open from the hall.

"Don't slander Grandma Harding. I gave it to her. She loves it!"

When I had Nate, the labor nearly killed us both. We almost lost him.

At his hundred-day celebration, my mother melted down her three wedding gold pieces and had them forged into that keepsake locket for him,

praying my child would grow up safe and whole.

"The kid doesn't know better, fine, but do the grown-ups not know better either? What a wretched old woman!"

"This is Fergus's doing, teaching him day in and day out to shy away from his own grandmother and cozy up to a thief instead."

"See? Fergus is going to side with Stephanie and her mother again. Is that how much sway a first love has?"

The comment stream had it right.

Fergus knew exactly what was going on and played dumb,

and when the two of them, big and small, looked at me, their eyes were full of smug triumph.

"Stephanie's coming over for dinner soon. You slander people off a video like that, you'd better apologize to her face when she gets here!"

"Yeah! Mommy has to say sorry to Grandma Harding!"

I said nothing, only stared hard into their father-and-son eyes, my lips trembling.

Something turned uneasy in Fergus's chest for no reason he could name,

and when the doorbell rang downstairs, even he didn't know why he felt relieved.

Fergus and Nate, Stephanie and her mother, sat there like a family of four.

The moment I came downstairs, the laughter cut off,

as though I were the intruder in this house.

"Rita Pruitt, come eat, Nate's starving. Good thing I cooked for these two boys of mine!"

Fergus sat across from Stephanie, already wearing that mild, easy smile.

Nate kept cramming his mouth with the junk food I never let him have, mumbling around it.

"So good! Aunt Stephanie and Grandma Harding are so nice to me!"

"Not like that jam thing Grandma sent. I dumped all of it. It was sticky and gross!"

My mother had stood in the sun for half an hour that day, her clothes soaked through with sweat.

Stephanie and her mother snorted with laughter, as if they'd heard something hilarious,

and when their eyes swept over me, the contempt in them was barely contained.

"All right, Nate, don't talk like that while we're eating..."

"And Grandma smells bad, I don't like her! She shouldn't come over ever again!"

Nate cut Fergus off before he could finish.

Heat shot straight to my head.

I slapped him across the face. It was the first time he'd ever been hit.

Stephanie snatched him into her arms,

and the room filled with the boy's crying.

"I hate you! I don't want you to be my mommy! I don't want you to be my mommy!"

"Stephanie, honey, Nate's just a child, how could you do that!"

Stephanie's mother stroked his head, all tenderness.

I stepped forward and Fergus shoved me aside with brute force,

my back slamming into the island, the pain bringing out a cold sweat.

He only spared me a glance.

I didn't want to stay one second longer. As I left, Fergus's voice came from behind me.

"Walk out that door and don't come back!"

...

By the time I made it back home, my mother was out under the blazing sun bringing in the rice.

"Mom!"

She turned, her eyes filling with delight and helpless surprise.

"It's boiling out, what are you doing here!"

"Come inside, Mom'll cut you some watermelon!"

She reached to take my hand as she talked,

and the small, fine cuts on her fingers came into view.

"Mom, why didn't you call me when you came to the house?"

She slipped at that, nearly stumbling into the paddy, a flash of panic in her eyes.

"Oh! I just wanted to see the city a little, and stop by to look in on you and Nate on the way."

She wouldn't meet my eyes, and her laugh came out forced.

"See, the son-in-law says there's no money, and the mother-in-law just believes it. She's scared of becoming a burden, of dragging down her daughter's marriage!"

"Heroine! Your mother's diagnosis is pressed down at the bottom of that drawer! Go look, quick!"

"Poor thing, a mother who won't even dare tell her own daughter she's sick."

The voices came one after another, and my heart pricked all over with a dense, needling pain.

While my mother was busy cutting the watermelon,

I opened the drawer, my hands sure of themselves, and found the pathology report.

"Uterine prolapse with necrosis. Removal required."

My mother had spent decades as a tea-picker to carry me out of those mountains,

and there was no telling how many nights she'd lain awake swallowing the pain before she finally found the courage to get herself checked.

"Sweetheart! Here, have some water"

The plate hit the floor, and my tears hit the floor with it.

"Mom... I want a divorce."

At the hospital, my mother trailed behind me like a small child who didn't understand how the world worked.

Because of what Fergus had said, she was terrified of becoming a financial burden to me.

Worse, she'd decided she was the reason I wanted a divorce.

Baby, I didn't mean to hide it from you. Just don't fight with him over an old woman like me, all right?

She murmured it in my ear over and over, her eyes full of worry.

When I came back from the restroom, she was gone.

I looked around, and my feet froze where I stood.

The information desk was surrounded by elderly people about my mother's age.

She'd finally squeezed her way into the middle and was asking the nurse the same thing again and again.

Nurse, this condition of mine, is it going to cost a lot? How much exactly?

Too many people were crowding in, and the nurse's patience had all but run out.

Ma'am! I don't know about money! Stop blocking everyone else!

The people beside her shoved her back,

and she only stammered out apologies.

I forced down the sting behind my eyes and was about to go to her when I saw Fergus stepping out of the elevator not far off, a cluster of people around him.

Stephanie's mother, Effie, walked at his side, the smile on her face impossible to hide.

Fergus, being a medical professor really is worth something. With you making the introductions, my salon will have the hospital's backing!

To Effie, Fergus was humble and warm.

Ms. Harding, connections are made to be used. Everyone at the hospital knows me. Whatever I can do, I'll do for you.

Stephanie says you haven't been well. I'll have a word with them and get you looked after.

The words carried, neither loud nor soft, right into my mother's ears.

Thinking of the divorce I wanted, she scrambled toward him.

Fergus! Fergus!

He looked up just as my mother tripped and one shoe flew off her foot.

The people around them exchanged glances. My mother winced in pain.

Professor Sawyer, this... this is your...

The department head beside Fergus started to ask, puzzled, but Effie cut in first to clear the air.

Oh, please! It's just some student's parent trying to butter up Fergus, that's all. Ignore her!

Fergus frowned and said nothing, letting Effie pull back the hand he'd already begun to extend.

My mother's body went rigid where she stood, her lips opening and closing, the words caught in her throat.

A security guard took the cue and came forward to keep order, kicking her fallen shoe off into a corner.

Go on, go on! Put it on over there, don't stand in the middle!

Teeth clenched, my mother stumbled to the corner, the report in her hand long since crumpled into a ball.

Mom...

Looking at the two of them not far off, smiling, holding themselves so high above her,

I lost my mind and rushed straight at Fergus.

The crack of my palm landed across his face.

Fergus... how could you... how could you treat my mother like this!

Two seconds of silence around us,

then his student was the first to shove me aside.

Who are you? Are you insane? What gives you the right to hit our professor? Security! Secu...

I'm his wife!

I screamed it, cutting him off, and heard him scoff.

If Mrs. Sawyer didn't come see the professor every single day, I might have almost believed your nonsense!

The professor's wife is named Stephanie. She's this lady's daughter!

You? Your mother? Give me a break! Couldn't worm your way close to the professor, so you came here for a little payback, is that it?

I froze on the spot, hardly able to believe what I'd heard.

Our eyes met, and Fergus offered not one word of explanation, only a face gone dark.

Baby, don't fight with them... not because of me...

Security! Get these two lunatics out of here! Can't you see they're getting in the way of the actual patients!

My mother's pleading and Fergus's shouting reached my ears at the same time,

and the people around us pointed and muttered.

Tried to climb her way up and it didn't work, so now she's dragged her mother in to force his hand?

I don't think so. More like she wanted to be the mistress and it turned out the husband and wife are perfectly happy together.

Right, right. And he sounds like a professor too. The student said his wife comes to see him every day! This woman has no shame...

The moment the guard came forward, I reached instinctively toward Fergus, only to watch him walk straight out the hospital doors.

The world spun, and I heard my mother's voice, nearly breaking apart.

Baby! Don't touch her... don't touch my daughter! Doctor! Doctor!

Something warm spread beneath me, and before my mind went dark, I saw my mother's palms covered in my blood.

The baby...

When I came to again, the smell of hospital disinfectant flooded my nose.

The moment I opened my eyes, my mother rushed to my side.

"Does anything hurt? The doctor's right here, just tell us!"

Remembering the blood on her hands before I passed out, I pressed a hand to my belly without thinking.

"We couldn't save the baby. Why hasn't your husband come yet? For something like this, he should be here."

At the doctor's words, my mother's eyes reddened at once.

She'd made more than one call, but every time the line went dead almost the second it connected.

"Talk it out properly with Fergus, don't let it turn into a misunderstanding. Mom's condition isn't urgent, and you... the two of you still have Nate, after all."

I dug my nails into my palm and nodded anyway.

I called, and to my surprise he picked up.

"Fergus, our baby is gone"

He cut me off before I could finish.

"Is this funny to you, Rita? Now you remember the baby? If Stephanie hadn't come over, Nate would've fainted from hunger!"

"If Aunt Stephanie hadn't stepped in to cover for me back there, what would've been left of my reputation? Why can't you and your mother be a little more reasonable?"

"You didn't leave me an ounce of face at the hospital, so I had no choice but to play along and tell everyone Stephanie is my wife. You brought this on yourself."

Every word landed like a needle in my heart and my mother's.

A second before the line cut off, I heard Nate calling out.

"Daddy, come play with me and Aunt Stephanie already! Forget about Mommy, I hate her!"

My tears struck the back of my hand, and my phone chimed.

"Transfer: two thousand dollars."

Fergus's message came right after:

"Stop making trouble. The money at home is all spoken for. Just take the two thousand for your mom for now."

I stared blankly at those four digits, and all I felt was contempt.

Spoken for?

For opening a beauty salon for his first love's mother?

A sudden warmth landed on my shoulder. I looked up, and my mother was forcing a smile at me.

"Sweetheart, divorce him. We don't owe him a thing!"

I nodded, and sent Fergus's transfer back.

The money at home had been frozen for now so Nate could study abroad and get an education.

But at this point,

let Fergus and that so-called "wife" of his carry it. I only wanted the share that was mine.

I wiped my tears and called Blake Chavez.

"Draft me a divorce agreement. He can have the boy. I don't want him."

The call had barely ended, before I could even let out a breath,

when those familiar comment-stream voices started up in my ears.

"You'd better hurry home and check on things. Any longer and it'll be a done deal!"

"If I were her, I'd move the money out first. Fergus gets to spend two hundred grand, but she can't?"

"I really hope Rita gets to live the happy life. No husband, no kid, but plenty of money!"

I knew what to do. The first thing I did was unfreeze the joint marital account.

Two hundred thousand. Same amount he'd made me feel guilty over, and I spent it without owing a thing.

Once I'd made sure my mother would stay in the hospital and take her treatment without worrying, I went home.

I'd barely pushed the door open when I saw a pair of red high heels sitting in the entryway.

"You're back!"

I looked up at the sound. Stephanie was in my nightgown, sipping red wine.

Fergus had a habit of collecting good bottles.

But every time I thought about trying a little, he'd say,

"What would you even taste? Don't waste my good wine!"

When she saw me ignore her, blank-faced,

Stephanie's expression cracked a little.

"Mrs. Sawyer. I gave up that title once, back when I thought Fergus was too poor to bother with. I never imagined he'd make something of himself and still keep me in his heart."

"All those years you slaved away, and what did it get you? A husband who doesn't love you, a kid who can't stand you. Rita, how did you let yourself turn into well, this sorry state?"

She looked me up and down with disgust,

as if she had no fear at all of Fergus hearing any of it.

It wasn't until I heard the car pulling into the yard that I understood.

"AhI'm sorry! I'm sorry! Rita, I didn't mean to put on your things, and I don't want to be any Mrs. Sawyer, I I just feel like I owe Fergus so much, I only wanted to help him"

"Please don't be angry, I I'll leave right now! Right now!"

Fergus walked in just in time to see Stephanie sprawled on the floor,

wine soaked into her clothes, broken glass all around her.

"Rita! How can you be so vicious? I don't even recognize you anymore!"

"If Stephanie hadn't taken Nate out to play, she wouldn't have gotten caught in the rain. I just let her shower and change here, and this is how you repay her kindness?"

Only then did I notice the cold medicine Fergus had gone out to buy, so worried she'd catch a chill.

I was pale from the miscarriage.

He acted like he couldn't see it at all.

"Are you blind? She staged the whole thing herself. It has nothing to do with me."

His face darkened.

He got Stephanie settled, then crossed the room in two strides and grabbed my wrist.

"Apologize to Stephanie!"

"I told you! I didn't do it. Fergus, why can't you take my side? Just once!"

I hadn't meant to cry, but the moment I spoke the tears came anyway, and I couldn't stop them.

Something in him tightened, and his grip loosened without his meaning it to.

"I just don't want to watch you throw your weight around. Should Stephanie be treated this unfairly, all because of our relationship?"

He softened his voice, as if he wanted me to agree with him.

To my ears it was nothing but a mockery.

"I'll say it one more time. I didn't push"

"Mom did push her! I heard them fighting from upstairs, I saw Mom push Aunt Stephanie!"

I hadn't finished when Nate came running down the stairs.

"Nate was up there listening the whole time. He knows exactly what happened!"

"Just because Stephanie lets him eat junk food and play games all day, he wants to swap out his own mother. He's out of his mind!"

"Good, then. Now Rita can stop holding out any hope for the two of them at all!"

I listened to the scrolling comments, and it went from shock to a pain in my chest,

and even my voice shook.

"Nathaniel Sawyer. Your whole life, the one thing I told you more than anything was that a person has to be honest!"

"You like her that much? Enough to frame your own mother?"

Every word I got out sent a fresh ache through my heart.

Seeing my reddened eyes, Nate pressed his lips together, and guilt flickered behind them.

But when he opened his mouth again, he still told Fergus firmly,

"Mom pushed her. Aunt Stephanie didn't didn't do anything wrong."

"Children don't lie. Rita, apologize to Stephanie, now!"

Fergus stepped forward and pushed Nate into Stephanie's arms,

as if afraid I might hurt the boy over what he'd said.

I laughed, cold, done holding out any hope for this father and son.

"Fergus, let's get a divorce!"