After Finding My Boyfriend Faked Blindness, I Stopped Playing Along

The day Mortimer Barnes cheated on me, he saved me from falling apart and got badly hurt in a car accident.

The doctors said he'd gone blind and had severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

When he had an episode, only Felicity Pruitt, the woman he'd been getting close to, could calm him down.

Everyone swore to me they'd keep an eye on Mortimer.

Mrs. Abbott even handed me the family heirloom.

My sister said, too: "If he ever dares mess around again, I'll stab him myself."

So I set my heart at ease and ran from hospital to hospital.

After one more failed search for a cure.

I got a message out of nowhere, from someone claiming to be me, ten years from now.

Mortimer isn't blind. It's all a lie. They've been deceiving you.

My finger trembled as I tapped into the chat room she'd sent.

The first thing I saw was a message from Mortimer.

Thank you all for helping me keep this from Patricia Fox. Next week, Felicity and I will treat you all to dinner.

My sister: It's nothing, no need for dinner. We're waiting to drink at your and Felicity's wedding.

My best friend: As long as Felicity's happy, that's enough. We've got everything handled. Patricia's so easy to fool.

My eyes blurred a little.

So it turned out this whole thing had been a play they were putting on.

And I was the only one in the audience.

But now, I didn't want to be that audience anymore.

Another message from Mortimer popped up.

I'm not going to pick Patricia up. The painting competition results are coming out soon, and Felicity's a little nervous.

I stared at the message, dazed.

The screen went dark, and my fingers felt a little numb.

After the accident, Mortimer's moods were wildly unstable, his behavior extreme.

Worse still whenever I picked up a paintbrush.

He'd come stumbling over to smash my drawing board, would turn a knife on himself.

The doctors said it was best not to provoke him too much.

So I gave up the painting I'd held on to for years.

Gave up the competition too.

But now the blindness was fake.

The PTSD was fake.

The only real thing was keeping me from painting.

If I didn't enter, Felicity's chances of taking first place went up.

My eyes started to burn.

I stepped off the high-speed train.

One by one, the people around me were picked up by their families.

In the end, only I was left standing where I was.

A message jumped up in the group chat.

Best friend: So no one's going to pick Patricia up today, then? Mortimer, aren't you going to smooth things over with her?

Sister: She's made her own way home these two years, hasn't she? She's not that fussy.

Mortimer: It's fine. In a bit I'll fake being sick and give her a call. She'll go soft.

The group chat buzzed a while longer.

At the end my best friend said: Patricia's easy to fool and easy to soothe. Keeping this from her is a piece of cake.

Tears dropped onto the screen.

The darkened screen reflected my pale face.

The phone rang.

Mortimer's hoarse voice came through the other end.

"Patty, I I wanted to come get you but I feel so awful right now I don't want you to see me like this.

"Will you blame me?"

Every word he spoke carried a faint tremor.

Like he was in terrible pain.

Before, at moments like this, my heart would ache so much I couldn't stand it, wanting nothing more than to be at his side.

But now I didn't want to keep acting this out with him.

"Is that so?"

He gave a small, aggrieved "mm."

"Or is it that you'd rather keep Felicity company? Why don't you just marry Felicity, then."

The other end went quiet for a moment.

I heard Felicity's coy, wheedling voice.

The call was cut off with a snap.

I gave a short laugh and got a cab home myself.

I just hadn't expected the best friend and sister who'd both claimed to be busy would be waiting for me at my door.

Before I could get a word out, my sister's hand came across my face.

"Patricia, how did you become like this?

"Mortimer hurt his eyes saving you. How could you say something like that to him?

"Can you really not stand to have Felicity around?"

My head buzzed, and everything went black in front of me.

It was a long time before I came back to myself.

Anger hung between my sister's brows.

"Patricia, you've disappointed me so much."

I watched my sister's back as she walked away.

She'd always spoken so gently before.

But today, for the sake of a lie.

She raised her hand to me.

My best friend Alison Dickerson tried to comfort me: "Evangeline Fox was just too angry. Patty, don't be sad. But"

"Get out."

I cut her off.

She froze for a second.

"I heard that abroad"

"I'm tired."

Alison's smile stiffened on her face.

I knew what she was going to say.

Nothing but news of another eye specialist somewhere, someone who'd developed some new drug.

But every time, the hope came to nothing.

Either the specialist didn't exist at all, or the hospital didn't.

For a while I thought it was just my own bad luck.

But only now did I understand.

All of it was a lie they'd made up to get me to leave.

I should give up too.

The group chat lit up again.

Alison: I feel like something's off with Patricia.

Evangeline: Leave her be. She's the one who said something awful right where Felicity could hear it. Felicity already takes everything to heart, and she's been down ever since.

My eyes went blurry.

I stared at those words for a long time. Long enough that the chat had already moved on to something else.

Mrs. Abbott: Congratulations to my daughter-in-law Felicity on winning the finals!

I tapped the video open.

In it, Mortimer had his arms around Felicity, spinning her around, both of them laughing.

The same Mrs. Abbott who had once placed the family heirloom in my hands was now calling Felicity her daughter-in-law with every breath.

Beside them, smiling and snapping photos, was my sister. The one person I'd relied on my whole life.

Alison, egging them on: "Kiss! Kiss!"

The video froze on the last frame, Mortimer and Felicity kissing.

Evangeline: Congratulations, Felicity!

Alison: Congratulations, Felicity! I always knew you could do it!

The lock turned.

Mortimer came in, cane tapping ahead of him.

His face was dark, and he didn't say a word.

I knew this look.

It was the same one he wore every time Felicity came to take him away during an episode and then brought him back.

I'd always thought he was just in a bad mood.

Only now did I understand.

Maybe he simply didn't want to come home.

Ten minutes later, Mortimer felt his way over slowly and lay down beside me.

Out of habit, he pulled me into his arms.

His sweet, cloying scent filled my nose.

I pushed his hand away.

By the faint glow of my phone, I saw the bandage on his neck.

He used to say that without me around, he was always falling.

So I'd laid tactile paving through the apartment and put padding on every sharp corner.

And still the bandages kept appearing on him.

Turned out those bandages had been covering more than wounds.

It was almost funny.

The phone lit up again.

Evangeline: Tomorrow at two, the usual place. We're setting up a surprise for Felicity, to celebrate her win.

I lowered my eyes, suddenly desperate to know where their usual place even was.

One in the afternoon.

Mortimer picked up his cane.

"Patty, I've got a counseling session today. How about I pick up a cake from that place near the hospital on my way back?"

I said nothing.

Before he left, he reached for my hand the way he always did.

"I'm off. See you tonight."

I followed quietly behind him.

And ended up at the one place I knew better than anywhere else. The marital home Mortimer and I were supposed to share.

If not for the accident two years ago, we'd have moved in long ago.

The door wasn't shut all the way.

For the mood, they'd drawn the curtains.

Where my award certificate used to hang on the wall, there was now a family portrait of them.

Anger surged up in me. I shoved the door open and walked in.

Confetti rained down, and voices called out congratulations all around.

In the chaos, someone lifted me off my feet.

"Felicity, congratulations on the win. Will you marry me?"

My mind went to static.

Sunlight poured in.

The smile hadn't yet faded from Mortimer's eyes.

The next second, he looked down at me, his tone edged with impatience.

"What are you doing here?"

My sister's brows drew together.

"Do you have any idea you just ruined the surprise we set up for Felicity?"

Alison looked just as annoyed.

No one explained.

There was only blame.

They were in the marital home I had once decorated, preparing Mortimer's proposal to another woman. And still they blamed me for ruining their surprise.

I fought down the sourness rising in my chest, forced the tremor out of my voice, and asked back.

"Blindness? Post-traumatic stress disorder?"

Mortimer's face stiffened for a beat, his voice going colder.

"That's right, I was never sick. The one with PTSD isn't me. It's Felicity.

"Whose fault is it that you're so petty, that you couldn't make room for Felicity? This was the only option I had left.

"We did it for your sake, too. Haven't you been happy these two years?"

Happy?

I gave up painting, the one thing I loved most.

Spent every day running from one hospital to the next.

I didn't dare stop.

For two years I hadn't slept a single full night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mortimer collapsed in a pool of blood.

And now he told me I'd been happy?

My sister came over to coax me.

"Patty, if you'd just spend more time with Felicity, you'd see how kind she is, how good.

"If you could accept her, we wouldn't have to keep hiding things from you anymore."

I brushed her hand off.

"Good? What kind of good person steps between two people who are together?"

"Patricia! Don't be so ugly about it! If you'd been a little more generous, we wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to keep you in the dark."

I looked at Alison, the one who'd said it.

The year her father cheated and ran off with every cent the family had, I was the one who stayed by her through those miserable days.

She'd cried and laughed at once: "Patty, when you find a boyfriend someday, keep your eyes wide open. Whatever you do, don't pick someone like my dad and let him ruin your whole life."

And now she'd become Mortimer's accomplice.

Telling me to be generous.

Beside me, the TV was still replaying the clip of Felicity's win on a loop.

At the sound of a familiar title, I turned to look before I could stop myself.

There on the screen was my unfinished painting.

The one I could never touch without Mortimer breaking down and cutting me off the moment I picked up a brush.

I froze where I stood, chest choked with something sour, disbelief written all over my face.

Mortimer followed my gaze and shrugged it off.

"It's just a painting, Patricia. Don't blow it out of proportion."

"That's my painting."

I stared hard at Mortimer.

"Taking something without asking is stealing."

The words were barely out before I heard Felicity start to sob behind me.

"I'm sorry, Patricia, it's my fault, I took your painting. I'll go to the committee right now and have my title revoked."

Mortimer caught her hand, his voice dripping with tenderness.

"This win wasn't easy to come by. How could you just throw it away? Don't talk nonsense, Felicity."

My sister joined in to soothe her.

"Felicity, this painting is your heart and soul. No one can take it from you. The title is yours."

Mortimer dropped his voice.

"Patricia, if it weren't for Felicity, this painting would still be gathering dust somewhere. Hurry up and apologize to her."

I laughed out of sheer anger.

"Mortimer, have you forgotten why I can't paint anymore?"

That year, he raised the knife against himself again.

I threw myself in without a second thought and stopped him.

The blade slipped.

It sliced clean through my tendons.

I would never hold a brush again.

I still remember the day I woke up, Mortimer slumped in the chair beside me.

Never mind the pain, I pulled him into my arms and comforted him.

"It's fine. Worst case, I just don't paint anymore."

He forced out a smile uglier than crying.

The next second his breathing went ragged, and Felicity carried him away again.

Every night after that, I lay staring at the bandages on my wrist, hollowed out.

How could I not have grieved?

A flicker of guilt crossed Mortimer's face. He stiffened his neck and said nothing.

I had no interest in fighting with them anymore. I turned to leave.

"Patricia, I'm sorry."

Felicity gripped my wrist, her eyes red as a rabbit's, apologizing over and over.

"It was my fault. I never should have taken your painting, never should have taken Mortimer from you. I'm willing to give them both back to you.

"All of it is my fault. I should have listened to Mortimer from the start and stayed put like a good girl. Once the accident was over, once Mortimer's fake death was done, it all would have ended.

"I'm sorry. If I hadn't run off, Mortimer wouldn't have gotten hurt saving me, and none of this would have happened."

The sun on my skin should have been warm.

Instead it felt like a bucket of cold water dumped over me from head to foot.

That day, I'd received a photo of Mortimer and Felicity together, close. I rushed off to find them and caught them exactly as they walked arm in arm into a hotel.

I fell apart and ran into the road.

When I came to, what I saw was Mortimer lying in a pool of blood.

Everyone said Mortimer was the one who saved my life.

That small resentment I'd carried toward him turned into thick, choking guilt.

I began to blame myself.

Blame myself for being so reckless.

Hate myself for making so much of it. Wouldn't it have been better to just pretend I hadn't seen?

But only today did I finally understand.

That the whole accident, from start to finish, had been a lie.

The man I thought had saved my life was the one who'd pushed me into hell.

Mortimer's expression shifted slightly.

"Felicity, go home first."

"No! I'm the one who should die! I never should have shown up in front of you again!"

Felicity broke down completely, her face streaming with tears.

Her grip tightened and tightened until her nails dug into my skin.

I wrenched myself free with everything I had.

Off balance, Felicity fell to the floor.

There was a pool of blood on the floorboards.

Her voice shook.

"Mortimer the baby our baby"

My mind went white with a roar.

I watched everyone rush to her side, fussing over how badly she was hurt.

Mortimer scooped her up and bolted out the door.

Alison and my sister ran right after them.

Once again, I was the one left standing there.

The television murmured on in the empty room.

I stood where I was and looked around.

This was the marital home Mortimer and I had decorated together three years ago.

I'd been so happy back then.

Then I walked in on Mortimer and Felicity.

Mortimer started faking his illness.

And this home, with no elevator and too inconvenient for a "blind" man, was forgotten entirely.

Which was how it became their old haunt.

I went straight home and picked up my things.

I opened the door and found Mortimer standing there.

"Where are you going?"

He caught my wrist.

I lifted my eyes to him.

"None of your business."

He sighed and rubbed his temple, a little helpless.

"Patricia, do you really have to take it this far?

"You could just pretend you don't know anything. What's so wrong with keeping things the way they were?"

Everything was wrong with it.

I couldn't spend the rest of my life living inside a lie.

"Mortimer, why did you lie to me?"

The room went quiet for a long time.

Long enough that I thought he wasn't going to answer, and I turned to go.

Then he spoke, his tone light.

"Patricia, you love money too much.

"Your sister was right. You're vain. If I had no money, you'd stop loving me. So I faked the blindness, faked losing control. And look, you didn't even last two years."

Hearing that, I felt the cold crawl up from my feet to my head, until it went all the way through me.

Our parents died young, and my sister was frail.

I was the one who held our little family of two together, alone.

I never let a single chance to earn money slip by.

Even bottles off the street, I'd pick them up and sell them.

That was how I got through high school.

I didn't care if people called me vain.

I had to keep my sister and myself alive first, and then living well.

But how could a girl in her teens not notice the contempt landing on her?

That was when Mortimer appeared.

He put himself between me and them, standing in front of everyone and saying the words I hadn't dared to say.

"She didn't steal, she didn't rob anybody. What business is it of yours!"

He cursed them off, then turned back and grinned.

"Come on, yell right back at them. You didn't do anything wrong."

My throat went tight.

Mortimer gave a shrug, like a concession.

"I'll marry Felicity, but I'll have the wedding with you. How's that?"

I didn't answer.

He frowned and started to speak again, but I cut him off.

"Fine."

Something flickered in Mortimer's eyes, a flash of surprise, as if he hadn't expected me to just say yes.

I pressed my lips together and gave a small smile.

"What? Was I not supposed to agree?"

Mortimer's phone rang.

The moment he saw the caller, his whole face softened.

I could hear Felicity's voice on the other end, thick with tears.

He walked off without ending the call.

On the day of the bridal shoot, Evangeline and Alison sat flipping through a thick album, back and forth.

"Patty and I agreed ages ago that I'd be her maid of honor when she got married. I've been waiting for this day."

Alison looked over at me, smiling. I didn't answer.

"From now on you and Mortimer just build a good life together, all right? No more acting out."

Evangeline said it gently, patiently, like she was pleading with me.

"I had a maid-of-honor dress made for Felicity too. She wants to come along."

"Fine."

A clerk carried out a custom gown.

"I really envy Felicity. Mortimer's so devoted to her. He had her dress made a whole year in advance."

Alison said it with open longing.

I looked down at my own dress.

Rented from the studio. Two thousand an hour.

By the time I'd finished my solo shots, Mortimer finally strolled in, late, with Felicity trailing behind him.

"Patricia, I didn't interrupt you and Mortimer, did I?"

Mortimer glanced at me and volunteered the explanation.

"Felicity and I are shooting our wedding photos too."

I nodded.

No crying. No scene.

His gaze settled on me, more searching now.

"Or... maybe I shouldn't shoot mine after all?"

Felicity peeked at me carefully, like a startled little deer.

Evangeline and Alison stepped in front of her at once, watching me warily.

Mortimer soothed her. "It'll be quick. Just wait for me a bit."

Quick it was. Our wedding photos took five minutes.

I changed out of the gown.

I turned and looked at the four of them, all so cozy together, then walked out of the studio without a shred of regret.

Next, the real show could begin.