After Wife's Couples' Ice Cream With Stepbrother, So I Chose Divorce

1: 1

The wife who'd promised to take our daughter to the amusement park for her birthday

was standing in a line on my way home from work, keeping Ivan Swanson company while he waited for some trendy viral ice cream.

I rushed over and grabbed her arm.

Why are you here? Where's Wallis?

Vivian Bailey froze, then hurried to explain.

"She's at the amusement park. I got her lined up for a ride and settled in, then slipped away to keep Ivan company for the ice cream."

Ivan looked at me nervously.

"I'm sorry, Carter. It's a limited release, they only sell the couples' set. I was really craving it, so I asked Vivian to wait in line with me."

I watched the two of them holding hands, playing at being a couple, and any last hope drained out of me.

I said it calmly.

"Vivian, this isn't the first time you've dropped me and our daughter for him."

"Since you can't be a good mother, we won't be needing you anymore."

With that, I turned and hurried off to pick up my daughter from the amusement park.

I hadn't taken more than a few steps before my phone rang.

The amusement park staffer's voice was rushed.

"Is this Wallis James's father? Your daughter fell while riding the express roller coaster. She's already been rushed to the hospital."

"What kind of parents are you? We asked more than once whether she was ten, we specifically warned you it's dangerous for a child under ten to ride, and you still put her on it!"

I couldn't make out anything after that. Cold all over, I looked at Vivian.

"Vivian, do you even know how old our daughter is this year?"

Looking at the blank, lost expression on her face, the tears poured down my cheeks.

"Vivian, you'd better be able to answer."

"Because if you can't, I won't let you or Ivan off. Not either of you."

1.

Vivian frowned and thought about it.

"Isn't she eight? Why are you asking?"

I stared at her, dazed.

I'd thought she'd only gotten Wallis's age wrong.

The truth was she hadn't even listened to the safety rule the staff kept stressing. She'd only wanted to get our daughter onto the longest ride as fast as possible, so she could slip away and buy ice cream with Ivan.

A ridiculous laugh escaped me.

"Vivian, we're done."

I turned to flag down a cab, but she grabbed at me, asking in disbelief.

"You want a divorce just because I got our daughter's age wrong?"

Ivan gave her a gentle nudge and forced a smile.

"Vivian, forget it. I don't want it anymore."

He glanced at the window, almost at the front of the line now, his eyes going faintly red.

"We only missed it by a few minutes, but it's fine. I've given up Dad and you to Carter already. Giving up one ice cream too is nothing."

At that, Vivian looked at me, her heart aching for him.

"It was only ten minutes. Whatever happened, it can't come down to ten minutes, can it?"

I threw her hand off and got into the cab that had just stopped.

Vivian seemed to be calling my name,

but I didn't look back.

By the time I reached the hospital, Wallis was still in emergency surgery.

The nurse handed me a form.

"The child fell from a height. There are injuries to her head, chest, and abdomen. Sign here first. Where's the child's mother?"

I held the pen, my hand shaking so badly I could barely write.

"She's busy."

The nurse glanced at me, her eyes full of pity, and didn't ask anything more.

I sat outside the emergency room, shivering, cold all over.

My phone suddenly rang, and my mother's angry voice came down the line.

"Carter James, Vivian just kept Ivan company for some ice cream, and you're making a scene over it! They're childhood friends, what's wrong with being a little close? Don't think marrying Vivian gives you the right to throw fits!"

"Your Uncle Neil won't even give me a decent look now! Ivan finally accepted me as his stepmother. Do you have to ruin all of it?"

I looked at the sealed doors of the emergency room, my voice breaking.

"Are you finished?"

"Then do you have any idea that Vivian, just to be with Ivan, put six-year-old Wallis on a roller coaster that requires riders to be ten?"

"Wallis fell off it. She's still in emergency surgery right now!"

2: 2

I thought my mother would at least ask how Wallis was.

But after a few seconds of silence, she said,

"They didn't know anything would happen. Why take it out on Vivian and Ivan?"

"Fine, I'll apologize to Ivan on your behalf, all right? So petty. Nothing like me at all."

The line went dead in a hurry.

Right after that, she updated her social media feed.

In the grid of photos, she was clinging fondly to Ivan Swanson, Vivian Bailey sitting beside them.

The caption read:

My precious boy is finally home after so long away. Mom couldn't be happier.

Someone commented:

Handsome son, beautiful daughter-in-law, one big happy family.

My mother didn't explain. She liked the comment.

The bitterness in my chest turned my stomach.

I jammed my thumb on the button to shut off the screen.

Instead I answered the call coming in from Vivian.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. I can't make it over there to be with you and our daughter."

"Mom said Ivan's home, so we have to have a welcome dinner together. I was afraid you'd feel awkward if you came, so how about I come pick you two up once it's over?"

"I'll throw Wallis another birthday tomorrow to make up for it. Don't be angry."

I cut her off.

"Did my mother not tell you Wallis is in the hospital because of you?"

She went tense at once.

"What do you mean? What happened to Wallis?"

"The city hospital. If you still count as her mother, come see what you've done."

But I kept watch all night, and she never came.

All I got was one message.

Mom says Wallis just took a little fall, nothing serious. Ivan needs to get over his jet lag and only just fell asleep, and if I go out now I'll wake him. I'll come get you two tomorrow.

I sent her the divorce agreement I'd already drawn up.

The thought of divorce hadn't come to me only now.

But in that moment, I decided for good.

Only because my mother had married Ivan Swanson's widowed father, everyone had decided that we were the ones who'd stolen his home.

He broke my father's keepsake, and my mother forced me to apologize.

He claimed credit for my project, and my mother still urged me to give up my promotion to him.

Later, the Vivian Bailey he'd loved from afar for years married me, and everyone felt even more that I owed him.

To make it up to him, Vivian could abandon me at our own wedding and chase him to the airport, just to stop him from leaving the country in a fit of temper.

And she could lose our first child, because he'd said one line about not being ready to lose her.

Yet the moment I showed the slightest discontent, they blamed me for not being big enough about it.

"You've already taken so much from him. What's the harm in giving in a little more?"

But I had never done anything wrong.

Why should I keep swallowing it?

At daybreak, the light over the emergency room finally went dark.

A nurse hurried out.

"The child's condition is critical. We need to bring in a specialist from out of town for surgery. We have to complete the paperwork now. Did you bring the family registry?"

I rushed straight home.

But I entered the code several times in a row, and the lock kept flashing an error.

This code was supposed to be Wallis's birthday.

Just as I was about to call Vivian, the door suddenly opened.

She stood there in a half-sheer nightgown, hair a mess, and the second she saw me she shushed me.

"Keep your voice down. Ivan's still asleep."

Seeing me stare at the keypad lock, she explained, awkwardly,

"Ivan couldn't remember the old code, so everyone talked it over and changed it to his birthday."

"Everyone?"

"Mom, Neil Swanson, and me."

The down payment on this apartment came from selling the old house my grandmother left me, and I'd been the one paying the mortgage all along.

But when they decided to change the code to my home, I was the only one they never asked.

I pushed past her and headed straight for the master bedroom.

Vivian rushed to block me.

"What are you looking for? I'll get it for you."

The bedroom door stood half open.

Ivan Swanson lay naked in the bed.

Wallis's little pillow and quilt had been dumped in a heap next to the trash can.

He scrambled to pull on his clothes, only making it more obvious.

"Don't get the wrong idea. Vivian was worried I wouldn't handle the jet lag well, so she had me sleep in the master bedroom."

Vivian explained too.

"I slept on the couch last night. Don't read into it."

The arguing woke my mother and Neil.

Neil said coldly,

"My son finally comes home, and he sleeps in your room. So what?"

My mother grabbed at me too.

"It's just a room. Do you have to make everyone miserable over it?"

I shook her off and walked to the safe.

The clothes Ivan had changed out of were piled beside it.

I'd barely reached out to push them aside when a torn square wrapper dropped at my feet.

Vivian went white and rushed to say,

"It's not what you think, that's the wrapper from the gloves Ivan uses for his late-night snacks..."

I drew a deep breath, kicked it aside, and took out the family registry and Wallis's papers.

Only then did Vivian remember her daughter.

"Where's Wallis? Why didn't she come back with you?"

I slammed the safe door shut hard and looked past her, straight at my mother.

"Now you remember Wallis?!"

"Wallis is only six, and you put her on a roller coaster that requires you to be at least ten."

"She fell off the top, they worked on her all night, and she's still lying in the ICU!"

3: 3

Vivian's face went white in an instant.

"The ICU? How did Wallis end up in the ICU? Mom! Didn't you say she just took a little fall and it was nothing?"

My mother looked away, guilt written all over her.

"She's a kid, she took a tumble, how bad could it be? I didn't tell Vivian because I didn't want to ruin Ivan's welcome dinner."

My daughter was lying in the ICU with tubes in her, and to her it was nothing more than a scrape that shouldn't get in the way of Ivan's meal.

Vivian hurried toward me.

"I didn't know it was this serious. I'll go to the hospital with you."

I looked at her, cold.

"The staff warned youno children under ten. But you don't even know how old your daughter is, and you didn't listen to the warning either. You just wanted to shove her onto the longest ride you could find so you could run off and buy ice cream with Ivan."

Vivian's face paled, and her mouth opened.

I didn't give her the chance to explain.

"Vivian, if you care about Ivan so much that you'd ignore your own daughter, then why did you marry me in the first place?"

"You were the one who chose me. Yet for all these years, everyone acts like I stole you away, like I owe Ivan something."

"Whatever she wants, I'm supposed to give up."

"And now, to keep him company, you'd throw away your own child's life."

I stared her down.

"If anything happens to Wallis, I won't let you off. And I won't let Ivan off either."

Vivian's face filled with shock.

"Carter, that's going too far!"

"Ivan and I are clean. I've looked after him like a little brother my whole life."

"How does that turn into something shameful the moment it comes out of your mouth?"

Neil's face darkened at once.

"Vivian and Ivan grew up together. Their bond has always been that close."

"She took care of Ivan for over ten years. Just because she married you later, the two of them can't even see each other normally anymore?"

"Who do you think you are, to force them to cut ties?"

My mother glared at me with disgust too.

"Everyone saw how good Vivian was to Ivan back then."

"You marry her and suddenly you want to own her, make her disown Ivan as a brother?"

"A dirty mind sees filth everywhere."

"Now the child's had an accident, and instead of examining yourself, you stand here spouting nonsense, slandering Vivian and Ivan."

"Carter, have you no shame?"

Ivan's eyes reddened at once.

"So you really do blame me after all."

"I shouldn't have let Vivian keep me company. But she only wanted to look after me a little more because it's so rare for me to be home."

"If you want to hit someone or curse someone, take it out on me. Stop insulting Vivian with talk like this."

Vivian instinctively turned to look at him, and that familiar tenderness rose in her eyes again.

That one small movement drained every last wish I had to argue.

I clutched the documents and shoved past them.

"Carter, wait for me!"

Vivian took a couple of steps after me.

But she never showed up, not even by the time I got back to the hospital.

I'd barely finished the paperwork when one of my people called.

"Carter, the new contract gets signed today. Why aren't you here yet?"

"My daughter's in the ICU. I need to take some time off. The contract's already negotiatedsomeone else can sign it."

He said quickly,

"But Ms. Bailey came in today with your brother, saying you're focusing on the child and stepping back to a support role, letting him take over your position and your project."

"It didn't sit right with me, so I called you as fast as I could."

Cold ran through me. I called Vivian immediately.

"What gives you the right to hand my position to Ivan?"

Her tone was strangely calm.

"Everything you said earlier was just panic talking, because of Wallis's accident. Your mind ran away with you. I know you didn't mean it, and I won't hold it against you."

"But you can't do your job well like this either. If you stay in that position, you'll only drag the project down."

"Better to step back for now and focus on the child in peace. I'm arranging this for your sake too."

I was shaking with rage.

"That's a project I spent a whole year landing! What gives you the right to take it?"

Vivian sighed.

"Not take itjust do Ivan a favor. Ivan's in the middle of a divorce case. He needs a respectable job to fight for custody of his child."

"He'll only hold the lead title temporarily. What's it to you to sit out one project?"

I gripped the phone hard and said coldly,

"I won't agree to it."

"If you dare touch my project, I'll hand the contract straight to a rival firm!"

"Carter, don't be reckless!"

Vivian's voice dropped too.

"You can't ruin the whole company just to make a point, can you?"

"It's only a temporary title. A year at most."

"When you come back, it's still your position."

She softened her voice again.

"I've already asked the doctors. Wallis's treatment is all arranged."

"Just focus on looking after the child, and come back to work once she's better. Isn't that better for everyone?"

"Besides, if we hadn't married in the first place, Ivan wouldn't have gone abroad heartbroken, and he'd never have run into that gold digger."

"We owe him this. We always did."

I finally lost it.

"I don't owe him anything!"

"He went abroad himself, he married her himself, and he picked the wrong woman himself."

"Why should my job and my life be ruined just because his went badly?"

"You're too worked up."

Vivian said flatly,

"Once Ivan's appointment ceremony is over, I'll come to the hospital and stay with you."

The call cut off.

Right then, a sharp alarm went off inside the ICU.

Doctors and nurses rushed to Wallis's bedside, quickly switched her to a portable monitor, and wheeled her out.

I threw myself toward them.

"Where are you taking my daughter?"

I blocked the bed, grabbing the doctor's sleeve, my voice shaking with panic.

"Didn't you say the visiting specialist was already lined up?"

"He can be here this afternoon. Why are you moving her now?"

The doctor paused.

"The specialist's surgery has been canceled."

Something roared in my head.

"Who canceled it?"

"The child's mother."

4: 4

The doctor explained,

"Ms. Bailey just called. She says the visiting specialist's plan carries too much risk, and she won't consent to the surgery."

"She's already signed the discharge agreement and the surgical refusal form, and she wants the current treatment plan stopped immediately."

"She says she'll arrange for the child to be moved to another hospital."

I staggered back a step.

"I'm the child's father, and I do not consent to a discharge! She can't be moved right now. You can't send her away!"

I gripped the bed rail with everything I had.

"She can't be transferred."

"Please, I'm begging you, don't move her. The specialist is on his way. Just a few more hours and she has a chance."

The doctor looked at Wallis's steadily weakening vitals, his face grave.

"Mr. James, we understand how you feel."

"But we can't do what you're asking."

He explained, his voice low,

"Ms. Bailey has just submitted proof of parentage and a written refusal of surgery, and she's signed on as the child's primary guardian."

"An outside specialist's surgery doesn't count as emergency lifesaving care. When the two guardians disagree, we have no authority to force it through. We can only maintain basic resuscitation, or process the transfer under the papers she signed."

Something roared in my head.

"She isn't Wallis's mother! Her signature means nothing!"

The doctor froze.

"What?"

"She isn't! I can prove to you she isn't!"

I stayed planted over the bed, fumbling for my phone, calling Vivian's number over and over.

After more than a dozen tries, she finally picked up, applause filling the background.

"Carter, I'm at Ivan's inauguration ceremony. Whatever it is, it'll have to wait."

I forced the hatred down.

"I'll agree to hand the position and the project over to Ivan."

The line went silent at once.

"Really?"

"But first you sign the divorce agreement I sent you, withdraw the refusal of treatment, and give me the authority to decide Wallis's care."

Vivian turned wary immediately.

"I won't sign a divorce agreement. I'm not gambling with our marriage over a fit of temper."

I softened my voice.

"I'm just upset, that's all. I want you to prove you still care about me."

"Sign it, and we start over. You make it up to me properly, show me that I and the child actually matter to you."

She was still hesitating.

I added coldly,

"If you don't sign, I hand the contract to the rival firm right now."

"The project's gone, and Ivan's inauguration turns into a joke. Vivian, it's your choice."

At last Vivian sighed.

"Fine, I understand. But dragging divorce into this really is going too far this time."

A few minutes later, I received her signed divorce agreement and treatment authorization.

She sent a message with it,

Happy now? I'll go to the hospital soon to look after the child. Find time to hand the project over to Ivan.

Vivian clearly hadn't read it carefully again.

The agreement stated it plainly: after the divorce, the child, the house, and my project all belonged to me.

I contacted my lawyer and the property management at once.

"Change the smart lock code, and revoke Vivian's building access."

"My mother and Neil aren't on the property title. Have security ask them to leave immediately. Pack up everything and send it to the Swanson house."

"They loved treating that place like Ivan's home, didn't they?"

"Pity. From now on, no one gets in."

Then I called a broker and listed the house below market.

The doctor finished his call and came over, his face heavy.

"After the specialist got the cancellation notice, he turned back. There's no time for him to come again."

"The only option now is to send the child to a hospital in her home state right away."

I nodded without hesitation.

"Transfer her. We go now."

When the transport plane took off, Vivian was still pushing me to sign the project over.

I sent the contract and all the files straight to the rival firm.

They replied quickly,

Happy to take over immediately. Terms unchanged.

I pressed confirm.

Vivian wanted to take everything I'd poured myself into and use it to pave the way for Ivan.

Then I'd rather hand it to her competitor.

The plane cut into the clouds.

I held Wallis's cold little hand tight and switched off my phone.