The Wind Was Loud, His Promise Faded at Utterance

After three years of marriage, my devoted husband has a whole line of gifts made just for me.

Every holiday, he sends me the gas bill, the property-management receipt, the paid-in-full statement for the water and electric.

Even on Valentine's Day, what he sent was a payment screenshot, with a note: Electric bill paid. Valentine's gift.

I sighed and posted the picture online without thinking too much about it.

My husband is too practical. What do I do?

Not long after, a comment showed up under the post.

"Advice, please, ladies. My husband's such a hopeless romantic it's giving me a headache. What do I do?"

A little envious, I clicked into her page.

A pink diamond ring. Roses at home, replaced every three days. Disney plushies stacked all over the living room.

I swiped through them one by one, thinking, so men like this actually exist.

Until the last photo.

On a beach, rose petals arranged into a heart, and a man down on one knee, proposing to her.

He was looking up at the girl holding her phone to take the picture, his eyes full of love.

So there really are people in this world who get loved like that.

Too bad that girl wasn't me.

But that man was my husband.

1.

The comments were full of people calling her a show-off, a humblebragger.

Soon the blogger, whose name was Zelda Pruitt, replied and posted a video as proof.

"I swear I'm not bragging. He's the one who said Valentine's Day needs to feel special, and insisted on booking this whole fireworks show for me."

In the video, blue fireworks burst open one after another, spelling out Zelda's initials.

Below the fireworks, Reuben Sanchez had his chin resting on top of the girl's head, holding her tight.

The sound of the fireworks kept echoing in my ears, but my vision was blurring more and more.

I thought about last New Year's Eve, when I'd tugged at him, wanting him to buy me a single sparkler.

His face went dark in an instant.

"Five dollars for a sparkler that burns for a few seconds. You'd really waste money like that?"

I'd thought he was just devoted to keeping the household frugal.

But this was the same man who booked an entire fireworks show for someone else.

As more and more people commented, "So jealous I've gone numb, I'm stuffed with all this cuteness."

She followed up right away with another photo.

"On my birthday, he insisted on taking me to Disney, and bought up every single plushie without even asking."

"I just want to know, is there any hope for a man like this?"

I raised a hand to wipe the tears splashing onto my screen before I could make out the Disney plushies filling it.

In a corner, a plushie keychain with a freebie tag on it, and I knew it far too well.

That was last month, when he used the excuse of a very important project to go away on a business trip.

The one decent gift he brought back for me when he returned.

I'd thought he'd finally come around. I even hung the keychain on my bag and carried it everywhere.

Forcing my emotions down as hard as I could, I typed a question underneath.

"You two are so happy. How long have you been together?"

The reply came fast: "We've been together two years now."

"And he's already proposed to me, hee hee."

I'd thought I was fully prepared, but seeing this still hurt so much I couldn't breathe.

So in the three years Reuben and I had been married, for two of them he'd had someone else in his heart.

I stared at that last line, my eyes stinging.

He'd already promised her a future. And me...

My phone buzzed. Zelda had sent me a private message.

"Happy Valentine's Day, big sis."

"And I'd love some advice from you. How do I get my husband to be a little more devoted to home too?"

My heart dropped hard. So it was true, the ones who are favored are always the ones who feel untouchable.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth and opened the message box.

"If you want to know, come find me at Sycamore Court."

It was deep into the night when Reuben finally came home.

He froze for a second when he saw me still sitting in the living room.

Then he quickly changed his shoes and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "Babe, don't wait up for me next time."

As he turned away, I caught his hand.

"Reuben, yesterday was Valentine's Day."

His steps paused. He answered softly, "Yeah, I know."

A vast helplessness rose in my chest. With him, I always ended up the one who lost.

But I still stubbornly wanted an answer.

"Why won't you ever spend Valentine's Day with me?"

Only then did Reuben turn, loosening his tie as if nothing had happened.

"Rachel, you know how busy I am with work. Can't you cut me a little slack?"

"Besides, I gave you a gift."

I looked down at the screenshot on my phone, an electricity bill for $207.50. That was the gift he meant.

I'd lost count of how many times I'd received gifts like this.

A property-management invoice on my birthday. A gas bill handed over on New Year's.

Somewhere along the way, all that was left between us were these cold bills.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "A household electricity bill, that's what you call a gift?"

The power we both used, a shared household expense, was something he was supposed to pay anyway.

And yet he had twisted that responsibility of his into something sickening.

He gave me a long look, unreadable.

"Then what do you want? A bag, jewelry, what?"

"Rachel, when did you get so materialistic?"

I lifted my head in disbelief. So all I'd asked for was the smallest scrap of care, and that made me materialistic.

Five years dating, three years married. I had given him nearly everything I had.

Our poorest year, I worked during the day and picked up a shift at a convenience store at night, eating one cup of instant ramen a day to get by.

All so I could save enough for a down payment, enough to marry Reuben.

When he found out, he ruffled my hair, doting. "You want to marry me that badly?"

Later he hauled bricks on construction sites and sold drinks at a club, until he finally scraped together enough to buy the place we live in now.

"It's my failing that money ever made you worry."

That man who had once burned with it, who had thrown everything he had into loving me, was now yelling that I was materialistic over a gift I had never once received.

I opened the video Zelda had sent me and turned the screen toward him.

"Reuben, were the fireworks pretty?"

The impatience on his face vanished all at once.

"You... you know everything!"

I looked at his face. The guilt in his eyes couldn't be faked.

Before he could say anything, his phone rang.

He glanced at me, then turned and went out to the balcony to take it.

A few seconds, that was all, and when he hurried back in the guilt on his face was already gone.

"This is between us. Why drag Zelda into it?"

"Do you really hate to see me happy that much?"

Realizing his tone had gone too far, he sighed and picked up his coat.

"It's late. She's still downstairs waiting for me. I have to go check on her."

Before he closed the door, he gave me one long look.

"I'll give you an explanation for this."

I stood by the balcony. The floor-to-ceiling windows were wide and bright.

So bright that all I had to do was tilt my head down to see the two of them tangled together below.

The girl angrily shook off his hand, and Reuben couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled her into his arms and bent to kiss her hard on the lips.

A laugh slipped out of me.

I laughed and laughed until the tears ran down my cheeks.

Reuben, I don't want to wait for your explanation anymore.

The next morning, I had just texted the lawyer to start drafting the divorce agreement.

Then my phone wouldn't stop lighting up.

A dozen messages, all from Zelda Pruitt.

"So you're Reuben's wife. I'm sorry we had to meet like this."

"I think you've probably figured it out by now. The only person Reuben loves is me. With you, it was only ever obligation. Honestly, he got tired of you a long time ago."

"Reuben promised he'd give me a wedding. If it's possible, I'd like you to leave on your own."

Right after that she sent a photo of a diamond ring, the receipt showing a seven-figure price.

"Bought this morning. Just to make me happy."

I stared at the photo for a long time, and without thinking, I touched my bare right hand.

When he proposed back then, he'd folded a ring out of scrap paper and slipped it onto my finger.

"Rings are for showing other people. It's the daily life you actually live. No point chasing after material things until you can't even afford to eat."

Later, when things got better, I brought it up with him, and all he said was, we made it through fine without a ring, didn't we.

Now, the thing I asked for and never got, she slid onto her finger without a second thought.

I switched off my phone and made myself a black coffee.

At some point Reuben had come home. He wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"You always hated anything bitter. Since when do you drink coffee?"

He startled me. I shoved him off hard.

He stumbled back a couple of steps but didn't get angry. He just gave a soft laugh. "Still not over it?"

Like all we'd done was have a fight.

I looked at the faint red marks on his neck, my voice rough.

"Let's get divorced."

Reuben frowned, a trace of impatience creeping in.

"Rachel, pulling the divorce act stopped being funny a while ago."

He walked over and sat down on the couch behind him, crossing his legs.

"I admit I've fallen for Zelda. But that's not all my fault."

"After we got married, it was like you changed. Every day it was bills, the mortgage, everything revolving around money. I was exhausted."

"But Zelda's warm, she's cheerful, she understands how hard I work. When I'm with her, I don't have a single worry."

Hearing that, it finally hit me.

I gave up the work I loved for him, poured everything I had into keeping this home, and that became his excuse for cheating.

Reuben pinched the bridge of his nose. "I already promised her a wedding."

He paused, then looked up at me, his eyes cold.

"I remember you've always had that wedding plan. Give it to Zelda. Call it compensation."

That wedding plan was the proudest work of my career. I'd stayed up for three months over it, reworked it through more than a dozen versions, all so it would come out exactly right.

I'd been saving it for my own wedding with Reuben.

Back when we got married we were too broke, and he'd talked me into holding off, said we'd do it properly once we had money.

Now we had money, and he wanted to use my work at his wedding with another woman.

The disgust rose in me and wouldn't stop.

"Why should I?"

He leaned back into the couch, completely indifferent.

"The plan's already done. Sitting there gathering dust. Might as well give it to Zelda, and we save a design fee on top of it."

"You don't know the cost of running a home until you run one. You haven't worked in a long time. It's about time you contributed something."

I watched him say it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world, and my heart sank, bit by bit.

So it turned out all his thrift and devotion to home only ever applied to me.

And in his eyes, everything I'd given wasn't giving at all. Just one more expense he could cross off whenever he liked.

"Fine."

If that's how it is, then we're square.

He took my wedding plan and set to work, thrilled, building the wedding he was throwing for Zelda Pruitt.

Pink roses covered the entire hall.

Balloons pumped full of hydrogen bobbed overhead, trailing rainbow stars, like a fairy tale come to life. Exactly the wedding I had once dreamed of, down to the last detail.

Reuben's buddies were teasing him.

"Not bad, man. Didn't know you had a romantic streak in you."

"You never put this kind of effort in for your wife. Aren't you afraid she'll get mad and walk?"

Reuben slid one hand into his pocket and gave a soft laugh.

"I can't give Zelda a title, so of course I have to give her the best wedding."

"As for Rachel, she's been with me eight years. She stuck it out through the poorest days. Now that things are good, and she's the age she is, she's not going to nitpick over this."

So he was certain I would never leave. That was why he trampled my heart without a shred of hesitation.

It took him a while to notice me standing behind him.

He came toward me with a smile, striding over, not the least bit embarrassed at being overheard.

"Tomorrow at the wedding, I want you to officiate."

I shook off his hand as he reached for mine, my voice shaking. "You two are the ones getting married. Why am I the one officiating?"

Reuben spread his hands, his tone as ordinary as anything. "Because you don't cost money. Hire someone out there and it's three, five thousand at least. You studied this stuff, didn't you? It's no trouble for you."

He lowered his head, scrolled through his phone, then added:

"Oh, and you don't need to bother getting a dress. There's a dress in the closet left over from the last wedding. Just make do with that."

His words landed like a slap across my face.

I looked at him and couldn't get a single word out.

So in his eyes, my profession, my dignity, could all be converted into cash.

But with Zelda, the seven-figure ring, the sky full of fireworks, he swiped his card without so much as a blink.

Reuben, you can total up every dollar between us. So tell me, can you total up our eight years?

Three years later, I stood at a wedding once again, only this time I was officiating the marriage of my own husband to another woman.

Truly laughable.

Zelda wore a crown and a couture gown, and on Reuben's arm she came slowly forward to the front.

In front of everyone, they were a perfect, happy couple, and I was just the free officiant standing beside them.

I gripped the microphone tight and gritted my teeth as I walked the guests through every step of the ceremony.

Down to the very last one, the groom kissing the bride.

Zelda leaned toward me and smiled, low. "No wonder Reuben only ever gave you the bill when he sent a gift. You two really suit each other."

"This gown of mine is a global limited edition, the only one in the world. He said I deserve the best."

With that, she smiled and walked to Reuben, tipping her head back to look up at him.

Reuben didn't spare me so much as a glance. He cupped the back of her head with one hand and kissed her deeply.

The string that had been pulled tight inside me finally snapped clean through.

I slid the divorce papers into a document envelope, handed it to his brother, and fled.

But this time not a single tear fell.

When the wedding was over, Zelda hung on Reuben's arm and went table to table toasting, basking in everyone's blessings.

Only then did he seem to remember me, his eyes sweeping the hall over and over, never finding me.

Even after the crowd had scattered, he still hadn't gotten a word from me.

He was about to call me when his brother handed him the envelope.

"Your wife left this. Said it's your wedding gift."

Uneasy, Reuben took the envelope and tore it open.

The words DIVORCE AGREEMENT stared up at him.