Back to '80s, Buried Husband With Lover; He Begged

My husband and his first love drank pesticide together and killed themselves for love.

My mother-in-law laid the blame on me, and waved my husband's suicide note around, demanding the two of them be buried together.

When they were alive, they couldn't be together because you stood in the way. His last wish was a joint burial, and you have to agree to it.

When I refused, my mother-in-law flew into a rage.

She rallied her relatives and friends and turned on me at the funeral.

My adopted son took a beating all over his body just to get me out of that funeral alive.

I was so moved that I poured my whole heart into raising him to adulthood, and left him a good deal of the family's wealth.

But just as I lay dying,

my husband and his first love came back from the dead, standing at the head of my bed, and laughed out loud.

"We never really died. The so-called joint burial and the funeral were just a way to fake our deaths and make you suffer a little."

"Thank you for raising our son so well. From now on the three of us will live a good life on your money."

Only then did I understand.

That so-called joint burial had been nothing but a play staged to make me the sucker who took the fall.

But there was nothing I could do. I could only watch the three of them, happy together as a family....

Given the chance to do it over,

I didn't leave this time. I calmly nodded.

"Since it was his last wish, of course I won't refuse. I'll arrange their joint burial right away."

One:

"Ronnie and Georgia were childhood sweethearts. If you hadn't shoved your way in, why would he ever have married you?"

"Ronnie already asked you for a divorce. If you'd agreed, would they have had to prove their love by drinking pesticide and dying together?"

"Today you're going to agree to bury Ronnie and Georgia together."

"And not only that, you're going to kneel here for three days and three nights and kowtow ten thousand times to apologize."

My mother-in-law, Kay Armstrong, glared at me, righteous with fury.

She had completely forgotten that she was the one who set me and Ronnie Weiss up, that Ronnie had come to my door again and again to ask for my hand, that I was his lawful wife, that we had even had a sweet spell together, and that it was only after that money-grubbing Georgia Parsons came back divorced that we turned into a bitter couple.

But she didn't notice the change in my eyes either.

She was too busy forcing me to kneel and kowtow to the coffins of Ronnie Weiss and his first love, Georgia Parsons.

That wasn't all.

She wanted me to set the record straight in front of everyone.

To declare that Georgia was Ronnie's real wife, that Georgia was the true daughter-in-law of the Weiss family, that I was nothing but a mistress, a second wife, that I had stolen what was hers, and that I owed her a lifetime of atonement.

To anyone watching, it would look like Kay Armstrong had lost her only son and broken down so completely that she'd thrown all reason aside.

But no one helped me.

Everyone thought Kay Armstrong was a pitiful woman, widowed in middle age and now childless in her old age.

So one by one they urged me to give in to her, to let it go, not to argue with two dead people like Ronnie and Georgia.

In my last life I listened to all this and could only stew in my anger. But this time I looked closely, and I saw it.

Kay Armstrong was seething with rage, but there was too little grief in her eyes. She hadn't even shed a single tear.

She was waiting for me to refuse.

The moment I refused, she could rile up the relatives and friends at the funeral, call me vicious, call me an undutiful daughter-in-law, and then, with the air of someone about to beat me to death to bury me alongside Ronnie and Georgia, she'd start swinging.

The moment she raised her hand,

my dutiful, sweet-natured adopted son, Theodore Weiss, would rush in to shield me, pull me out of the funeral, and weep that he'd already lost his father and absolutely could not lose his mother too.

And I would foolishly be moved, and with everyone fanning the flames, I'd spend the rest of my life lifting Theodore up, right up until I died, when I finally learned the whole truth....

I sank into the painful memories of my last moments and said nothing.

Seeing this, Theodore grew a little impatient. He glanced at the coffins of his birth parents in the hall and frowned slightly.

After a few seconds' hesitation, he rushed forward and threw his arms out in front of me.

"It was Dad who was irresponsible. He had Mom and still couldn't keep himself away from another woman. That's a cheater, that's a man eating from his bowl while eyeing the pot."

"My mom just couldn't accept a cheater getting to be happy with his so-called true love. That's why she refused the divorce."

"My dad did say he'd kill himself if the divorce and remarriage went through, and my mom egging him on, telling him to hurry up and go die if he was going to die, that wasn't right either. But no matter how you look at it, my mom did nothing wrong."

"Anyone who betrays a marriage deserves to die."

"As for today's joint burial, my mom is...."

I stepped forward, put on a doting look, patted his head, and cut him off.

Then I stared at the two coffins in the mourning hall and let out a sigh.

"Willing."

The word landed, and everyone froze for a moment.

I used that pocket of silence to add two more lines.

"I'm willing to have them buried together!"

"Not only that, I'll personally arrange their funeral, and once they're laid to rest, I'll kneel at their grave for seven days and seven nights to atone for my sins."

As I spoke, I even dabbed at the corner of my eye, wiping away tears that weren't there.

The moment the words were out, Kay Armstrong and Theodore Weiss both froze. Forgetting they were supposed to be putting on an act, they couldn't help but glance at each other before turning to stare at me, both of them stunned.

Theodore recovered first.

"Mom, don't joke around, and don't force yourself to be brave."

"How could you possibly agree to a joint burial?"

"This woman abandoned my dad back then because he was poor and she wanted money. She even stole his money, forced him into marrying you when he had no other choice, and then treated you badly after the wedding."

"She never even gave you a child of her own. She only adopted me so I'd keep you company."

"A man like that, so what if he's dead. Why should you grieve for him, why should you carry out his last wish!"

The crowd around us nodded along.

Ronnie Weiss had no backbone. He was the one who insisted on marrying her, and now, after all the divorce drama, he's the one who went and killed himself.

A man like that really did get what was coming to him. Nobody should be honoring his last wish.

But this Theodore is a sensible, good kid. You'll have to raise him right from here on out.

Theodore looked at me, his face full of expectation.

Like he was waiting for me to praise him, waiting for me to promise in front of everyone that I'd raise him.

But when I heard it, my expression didn't change.

Instead, I reached out and slapped him across the face.

"A person can't forget where they came from. If your dad hadn't picked you up and taken you in, the grass on your grave would be taller than you by now."

"Your dad did wrong by me. He married me for money, used me up and wanted to throw me away. But there's no denying he was a good father."

"You stand here at his funeral and talk about your dad like this. How is that any different from an ungrateful little wretch?"

"When I die, are you going to stand in front of everyone and say I'm not your real mother, say I'm better off dead too?"

Theodore covered his cheek.

He had no idea what to say.

Kay Armstrong watched her precious grandson get slapped and ached for him, and it took everything she had to hold herself back from lunging. Instead she said through gritted teeth,

"An ungrateful wretch like this deserves to be beaten to death."

"Well, I'm certainly not raising this ungrateful wretch from now on. Either he goes back to wherever he was picked up from, or you raise him yourself. Either way, he's got nothing to do with the Edwards family anymore!"

I still didn't say anything.

I just stood there calmly to the side, looking at the small, inconspicuous air vents beneath those two coffins, thinking about how one person could block both of them at the same time without anyone noticing.

Theodore was frantic. He'd always been sharp for his age, so he quickly gritted his teeth and started slapping his own face.

"Mom, you're right."

"It's all my fault. I understand now. When you said you were willing to handle the funeral, you must have had something else in mind."

"You hit me and scolded me so that Grandma would give up on me, so I'd only be your son."

"I get it!"

Kay Armstrong hadn't caught Theodore's meaning at first, but hearing this, it clicked for her too.

"Fine. So the two of you had it all planned out from the start."

"Get out, both of you. Don't dirty the road my son and daughter-in-law walk in the next life."

"I'll handle this funeral myself. I don't want your kowtowing, I don't want your apologies. I just want you gone!"

Theodore grabbed my hand, spat out a few harsh words, and made to leave, but I stayed rooted where I was.

"Mom, I know you suspect me."

"But with so many people at this funeral, all of them watching, what could I possibly do?"

With that, I gave neither of them a chance to speak. I turned straight to the men digging the grave and said,

"Do me a favor."

"Dig Ronnie Weiss's pit a little bigger, and put both coffins in together for the joint burial."

"Carve a new headstone too. Once I have money, I'll build them a grand tomb."

The crowd worked away, sweating and cheerful.

No one was paying attention to Kay and Theodore anymore. They just kept praising me for being so generous.

Kay and Theodore were nearly out of their minds with panic. The whole point of this fake funeral had been to enrage me, to get me beaten badly enough that I'd storm off and skip the burial. Then, while I was gone, they'd quietly let Ronnie and Georgia out and bury two empty coffins.

Afterward I was supposed to be so grateful for Theodore's acceptance that I'd take him away with me and raise him on my own.

But that wasn't how it went.

A few words and I'd slipped every beating they'd set up, and I never left the memorial hall. I stood guard the whole time, so they never got a single chance to lay a hand on me.

Kay couldn't stand it. The moment I "wasn't looking," she hurried Theodore off into a side room.

I thought about it, then followed after them without a sound.

Soon enough I heard Kay's voice.

"Let's just drop it."

"We come clean that your dad and your mom aren't dead and let them out. Otherwise, what if something really goes wrong in there?"

"And yes, your dad brought up divorce, but Rosalie never actually refused. She was only angry in the moment. If we raise it again, she'll definitely agree."

"Why take this kind of risk?"

Theodore shook his head.

"No!"

"Mom and Dad already planned to head south for work. If this gets out, Rosalie will leave for sure, and once she's gone the whole family's plan falls apart."

"And by then everyone will know our family staged a fake death just to scheme against Rosalie. We'd never live it down."

"Don't worry. Dad guessed this might happen, so he gave me..."

I listened to their plan and nodded, thinking it over.

Then I left before either of them came out.

Not long after, Theodore came back to me with a red handprint burning on his cheek and held out a bowl of sugar water, looking pitiful.

"Mom, I'm really not ungrateful. I just can't stand seeing you suffer."

"You know I've always liked you more than Dad, always been closer to you."

"They're the ones in the wrong, so why should you carry the blame?"

"You haven't eaten all day. This is sugar water. Drink a bowl."

I took the bowl, glanced at it, and set it back down.

"The sugar hasn't fully dissolved yet. I'll drink it in a bit."

Seeing that I wasn't drinking, Kay hurried over too.

"Rosalie, you're right. I didn't think the joint burial through. I was only thinking about my own son, and I completely forgot you're a poor soul too."

"Don't worry, I won't blame you anymore. After the funeral, if you want to leave, you leave. And if you don't, you'll always be the only daughter-in-law of this family!"

Listening to the two of them.

I let go of my anger, and right in front of everyone I took both their hands and made up.

Then, with the two of them watching, I drank the sugar water down to the last drop, and I even had someone go to the kitchen for food, urging Kay and Theodore to eat something too.

By the time they'd finished eating, I was still sitting there, bright and alert as ever.

Kay couldn't help herself.

"Rosalie, aren't you tired?"

"You've worn yourself out arranging this whole funeral. Shouldn't you rest a little?"

I yawned.

Then, under her expectant gaze, I shook my head.

"Not tired at all. Though Theodore over there looks about ready to pass out."

Kay turned to look. Theodore couldn't even keep his eyes open now.

Something must have struck her, because she stared at the porridge on the table, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head.

"Don't tell me you put something in our..."

Four:

I didn't say anything. I just looked at the terror in Kay's eyes and smiled.

I'd heard the whole plan just now.

That was how I knew Ronnie had actually considered the chance that I might agree to the joint burial.

If I agreed, their little act would fall apart. So he'd bought some veterinary knockout drug ahead of time. If I said yes, they'd get me to drink it, and once I was out cold, they'd go on with the original plan just the same.

So after I overheard Kay and Theodore's plan,

I quietly slipped away.

I swapped the knockout drug Theodore had hidden under his pillow with real sugar. But it seemed a waste to throw the drug out, so after thinking it over, I put it straight into the porridge...

Kay understood too.

Her hand clamped down on mine.

How dare you?

I frowned, letting a little hurt show.

Mom, I could see how worked up you were, how heartbroken Theodore was, so I just wanted the two of you to get some proper rest.

I'll handle everything about the funeral. You don't need to worry about a thing.

I'll do it big, I'll do it grand, I'll send Ronnie and Georgia off as a proper married couple in the afterlife!

Kay wanted to scream, but Ronnie's drug worked well, and she couldn't get a sound out. She struggled with it, then had no choice but to plead with me in a whisper.

You can't bury him, Ronnie isn't...

I sighed.

I cut off whatever Kay was about to say, spooned the rest of the porridge into her mouth, and as the drug took hold she couldn't speak another word. Her eyes closed and she "fainted."

Once I saw they were both out cold,

I spoke up quickly.

Mom and Theodore are so overcome with grief they've fainted.

We can't drag the funeral out any longer. If they wake up and see the coffin still here, it'll probably crush them all over again!

Everyone, please help me get them into bed, and then let's arrange the joint burial as soon as we can!

Once Kay and Theodore had been carried away,

I had people nail Ronnie and Georgia's coffin shut right away.

The two of them really could hold out. Not a single sound.

But I knew the truth. They were conscious in there.

In my last life, when I was on the edge of death, the two of them had aged, but their eyes were still bright.

I still remember how you begged and begged when they beat you at that funeral, rolling around on the ground like a dog. The only shame was there were no cameras or recordings back then, or I could've filmed it and savored it later.

Whenever I think about how you raised our child as if he were your own, so devoted, and never married your whole life, I just find it hilarious.

You think you got sick by chance? No. Once we decided we were done using you and wanted the family together, we arranged it for you on purpose.

Remembering all of it,

I couldn't help resting a hand on Ronnie's coffin and letting out a few soft, cold laughs.

I hope the two of you make a good married couple down there. Don't waste my kindness.

Inside the coffin, Ronnie was panicking. From the moment they started driving in the nails he'd known something was off. It was too loud out here, he couldn't hear what I was saying.

But it still felt wrong to him, a fear coming from nowhere.

Maybe the air inside the coffin was thinning, or maybe he was simply too afraid, but Ronnie couldn't hold it in and started crying for help.

So as the coffin was lifted off the ground, a relative standing fairly close spoke up.

Wait.

There's something moving inside the coffin.

It sounds like... save me?