My Cheating Groom's Fatal Mistake

1: 1

My best friend said she's my boyfriend's mother-in-law.

Take good care of her, she said, and that was the same as taking good care of me.

Even at our wedding, when she got drunk.

Barnaby Fox left me alone at the reception and gave me that helpless little smile as he explained. Baby, I have to get her home and make sure she's okay. Otherwise she'll sober up tomorrow and there's no telling what kind of scene she'll make.

He didn't wait for me to answer. He already had her in his arms, drunk, and then they were gone.

Five years together, and this was the ninety-ninth time I'd watched him walk away for her.

The hundredth time, I didn't want to watch anymore.

This marriage, I didn't want anymore either.

I stood in my wedding dress outside the hotel, the night wind lifting the hem of my skirt.

My phone buzzed. A message from Barnaby: *Baby, I'll drop her off and come straight back. Wait for me.*

I didn't reply.

The makeup artist jogged over and asked me carefully, "The bride when is the groom coming back? The photography team is still waiting. They said the family portrait hasn't been taken yet."

"We're not taking it," I said.

"Huh?"

I took off my veil, folded it, and handed it to her. "Thank you for your work. I'll settle today's bill in full. You can all go home."

The makeup artist opened her mouth, then in the end said nothing.

I went back into the banquet hall. Most of the guests had already left, and my mother was helping clear things away.

When she saw me come in alone, her face changed at once. "Where's Barnaby?"

"He took Sara Swanson home."

My mother's hand stopped. Then she set the box of wedding candy down hard on the table.

She didn't say anything, but the anger and the ache were in that one motion.

"Mom."

I walked over. My voice was very calm. "I want a divorce."

When I said those words, I thought I would cry.

But I didn't. Inside I was strangely calm, as if I'd finally set down something very, very heavy.

My mother's eyes went red. She held my hand. "You've thought it through? You only registered the marriage yesterday."

"I've thought it through."

She didn't try to talk me out of it. She just squeezed my hand hard. "If you've thought it through, that's enough. Mom's behind you."

Barnaby didn't come back until three in the morning.

When he pushed open the bedroom door and saw me still sitting on the edge of the bed, he froze for a second, then gave me that apologetic smile I'd seen countless times. "Baby, why aren't you asleep? I'm sorry. Sara threw up all over herself, I spent half the night cleaning up at her place"

"Barnaby."

I cut him off. "Let's get divorced."

The smile on his face froze instantly.

"What did you say?"

I looked at him and said it word by word.

"I said, let's get divorced."

He came over quickly, crouched in front of me, took my hands. "Baby, are you angry? I know today was my fault. Leaving the bride behind at the wedding really was too much. But Sara had too much to drink, and you know how she gets. I couldn't just leave her"

I let out a small laugh. "You don't have to explain to me. She's your future mother-in-law, after all. If you don't look after her, who will?"

Barnaby's face shifted. "Baby, don't talk like that."

I gave a cold laugh and looked at him. "Am I wrong? Back when we first got together, she tossed off that line about being your future mother-in-law, said taking care of her was the same as taking care of me. Five years together, and you've taken better care of her than of me. You dropped me at every turn to go look after her."

Barnaby frowned. "When did I ever"

"The first time was our first anniversary. She said she'd just been dumped, and you got up and left without a word, and let me finish that dinner alone."

"The second time was my birthday. She said she had a fever, and you didn't say anything, just grabbed your coat and rushed out."

"The third time, you'd promised to come to the concert with me. Right before we boarded, she said a pipe had burst at her place, and you left me standing at the airport and ran off. I called you, you didn't pick up. I texted you, you didn't reply."

I laid them out one by one, my tone as flat as if I were reading off a menu.

"The twelfth time, I had acute gastroenteritis. On the way to the hospital you got a call from her, she said she was in a bad mood and wanted to drink, and you left me at the emergency room door and turned around and left. The eighteenth time, my grandmother died. She said the rain and thunder gave her nightmares and she was scared, so you turned around and went to her place and stayed with her till dawn. The thirty-seventh time, the day of our engagement, she said her heels were rubbing her feet, so you carried her two miles to buy bandages and left me alone at the engagement banquet."

Barnaby's face grew paler and paler.

"The fifty-eighth time, she said she was moving, and you spent a whole day helping her move. The seventy-second time, my promotion celebration, you were an hour and a half late, because she wanted the cannoli from that bakery on the West Side, and you drove halfway across the city to get them for her."

"The ninety-ninth time." I looked at him, word by word. "The day I fell and lost the baby."

Barnaby's head snapped up.

"Where were you?" I asked.

He didn't speak.

I said it word by word.

"You were at Sara's, clipping her cat's nails."

2: 2

That was the darkest day of my life.

I fell down the stairs by accident and lost the baby.

I called for the ambulance alone.

I lay on the cold operating table alone.

I signed the consent form alone.

I woke from the anesthesia alone.

The nurse asked where my family was, and I said they were on the way.

The truth was, I knew he wasn't coming.

Because Sara had said her cat's nails were too long and had torn up her couch.

She said it with a catch in her voice, and Barnaby chose her without a second thought.

In that moment I stared at the ceiling, and a voice inside me said: enough, all of this is really enough.

But in the end I still didn't leave.

I thought marriage would make it different.

I thought after five years together, he would know how to tell what mattered.

I thought on our wedding day, when I stood in front of him in my dress, his eyes would finally hold no one but me.

"Baby."

Barnaby's voice shook. "There's really nothing between me and Sara. I only looked after her because she's your best friend, your closest friend. I thought if I took care of her, I'd be taking good care of you. Baby, you're the one I love"

"Barnaby, I really don't want to hear it."

I cut him off, stood up, my voice calm. "Five years. Ninety-nine times. Every time you said the same thing. Every time it was 'she needs me,' 'she'll fall apart if I don't go,' 'she's your best friend.' But you're my boyfriend. Even if she is my best friend, what obligation do you have to take care of her? All because she once called your mother her future mother-in-law?"

His eyes went red at once. "Baby, give me one more chance. I won't have anything to do with her again. I'll block her right now."

He fumbled for his phone.

I shook my head with a smile. "Don't bother. From now on, whatever happens between you and her is none of my business."

Then I took out the printed divorce papers and set them on the nightstand.

"Your family paid the down payment on the apartment, so I don't want it. I bought the car, so I'm taking it. As for everything else, we each pack our own things."

"I won't sign."

His eyes were red as he clamped down hard on my wrist. "Jemima! I'm telling you, I'll die before I sign. I will never let you leave me."

He was crouched on the floor, still in the groom's suit he hadn't had time to change out of, his bow tie crooked, his eyes bloodshot, looking like a big abandoned dog.

Once, every time I saw that expression, I would soften.

But not now.

I would never soften again.

I picked up my packed suitcase. "Then, Barnaby, I'll see you in court."

Once I was outside, I took out my phone and called my cousin, the lawyer.

"Vanessa Acevedo, I want to file for divorce."

3: 3

The next morning.

I met my cousin Vanessa at a coffee shop.

"You're finally divorcing that snake Barnaby Fox?"

Vanessa had been away on a business trip and hadn't made it back in time for my wedding.

She'd only just gotten in that morning, and the moment she heard what had happened she rushed straight to me, more worked up than I was.

"When you first met Sara Swanson, I told you that girl had a nasty streak. But back then you were a little rabbit, and she led you around by the nose. And Barnaby, the first time he dropped you and ran off just because Sara called herself his future mother-in-law figure, I told you the man had no character."

Sara and I had shared a dorm in college.

Word was her family had it rough, that she'd taken out student loans on her own just to enroll.

Her parents didn't send her any money for living expenses, and sometimes she couldn't even afford to eat.

My own parents had divorced when I was small, but I never went short on love from either of them, and whatever I wanted, I got.

So when I first heard her story, my heart ached for her and I actually cried.

No one in our class had any time for her. I was the only one who spent time with her, who bought her meals.

Bit by bit, we became inseparable.

Then in junior year Barnaby showed up, gentle and attentive, good to me too.

From the moment he started pursuing me right through us getting together, Sara kept trying to get in the way.

She said she didn't want us to drift apart, didn't want to share me with anyone.

Back then I still thought she was wonderful. Having a friend like that felt like the greatest luck in the world.

Who could have guessed that once Barnaby and I were together, all it took was Sara calling herself his future mother-in-law figure.

And Barnaby happily looked after her for five years.

Every little thing, he'd go running for her.

And it was always at the exact moment I needed him most.

Thinking back now, Sara probably did it all on purpose.

"Jemma, you're sure? Suing for divorce?"

I came back to myself and nodded. "I'm sure."

This time, it didn't matter who showed up.

"Jemma!"

Someone lunged out from the side.

It startled me.

When I got a clear look, it was Sara.

She was still in yesterday's bridesmaid dress, hair a mess, eyes swollen and red.

Barnaby trailed behind her, just as disheveled.

By the look of it, he hadn't slept all night and had gone to fetch Sara first thing in the morning.

Before I could say a word, Vanessa cut in first. "How the hell can you be this shameless? After pulling all that garbage, you've still got the nerve to come looking for her? For what?"

Sara grabbed my hand, tears spilling the instant she wanted them to. "Jemma, don't divorce Barnaby, okay? All of this, every bit of it, is my fault. I only did it because I wanted to be good to you after you two married. I'm so sorry."

How had I never noticed how thick the fake-innocent act ran with her?

I let out a cold laugh. "Sara, I can see exactly what you've been hiding in that head of yours now. But I don't care anymore. From here on, you have nothing to do with me, and he has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want, both of you. Vanessa, let's go."

Seeing me about to leave, Sara flung herself forward.

"Jemma! Don't do this. Let me kneel and beg you to forgive me, okay?"

I smiled, took a step back, and gestured for her to go ahead.

"Then kneel."

4: 4

Sara froze.

Clearly she hadn't expected me to say that.

"Quit dragging it out. If you want to kneel, then kneel."

Vanessa watched her not move, then stepped forward and kicked her hard behind the knee.

"Ah!"

Sara's knees buckled and she dropped straight to the floor.

Everyone around us turned to look.

Her cheeks flushed a deep red, and she raised her tear-filled eyes to glance at Barnaby beside her.

Barnaby's brow creased. He pulled her up and turned on me. "Jemima, this is going too far, don't you think!"

Sara whimpered, "Don't blame Jemma, it's all my fault, it's all because I'm shameless"

"Of course it isn't my fault!" I cut her off with a cold laugh. "You are shameless. No, wait"

I looked at Barnaby. "You're shameless too. My best friend calls herself my boyfriend's future mother-in-law, and my boyfriend gets this close to my best friend. There's no way you two had any boundaries at all."

"It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

Sara suddenly lifted her hand and slapped herself across the face, again and again.

"It's all on me, I'm the slut, I'm shameless, I seduced my best friend's boyfriend."

She looked at me through the tears. "Jemma, it's all my fault. You and Barnaby finally made it official after so long. Please don't split up over a slut like me. I swear, once you forgive Barnaby, I'll never appear in front of either of you again. Even if I die, I'll find the farthest place from you two to do it"

"Enough!"

Barnaby yanked her hand down, his face dark as he looked at me. "Jemima, will you only be satisfied once you've dragged us through something this ugly?"

I laughed out loud. "Barnaby, I'm not dragging you through anything."

"The divorce, I mean it."

"The lawsuit, I mean that too."

"As for you two"

I swept my gaze over Sara, who was crying so hard she could barely breathe, and said it one word at a time. "I hope the two of you are locked together for the rest of your lives."

With that, I took Vanessa's arm and turned to leave.

I'd barely stepped out the door when Barnaby suddenly called after me. "Jemima, you're really going through with a divorce over some petty little thing like this?"

Petty little thing?

After everything, it was still just a petty little thing in his mouth.

I turned back to look at him, my voice cold as ice. "Yes. Over this petty little thing. I'm divorcing you, and that's final."

Barnaby clenched his fists. "Are our five years together worth nothing at all to you?"

I scoffed.

"Don't act like I owe you something. You're the one who first"

"Fine," he cut me off with a cold laugh. "No need for a lawsuit. I'll divorce you."

He snatched the divorce papers out of my hand, bent his head and signed them with quick strokes, then flung them in my face. "Jemima, don't you fucking regret this!"

I watched his back as he walked off with Sara.

For some reason, a bad feeling settled in my chest.

Then early the next morning, Vanessa's call went off like an alarm bell.

"Jemma, something big has happened! Look at the link I just sent you!"