Reborn in the 80s: My Rugged Soldier Husband's Secret

Start Reading

1: 1

The first thing I did after waking up back in 1985 was take back my college admission spot and throw away my foreman husband.

In my last life, I gave that admission spot to my husband, Julius Delgado.

The factory assigned me an apartment. I'm taking Noreen and her son with me, otherwise a widow and a fatherless boy will just get pushed around in the village.

Afraid I'd go to D.C. and make a scene, he mailed the divorce papers back and then sold me to the village bully.

Twenty years. Twenty years worse than death, every day a living hell, and in the end I didn't make it through that last winter.

"That Julius is cold-blooded, all right. He sent money every month just so I'd have more reasons to torment her."

I still had a breath left in me when they beat that breath out. I died with my eyes open, unable to rest.

I never imagined heaven would open its eyes and send me back to the very day I handed him that spot.

"Enough. This is between the two of you, husband and wife, and you've dragged it all the way to the village office. You want the whole place laughing at you?"

The team leader's words froze me where I stood, my body trembling faintly. When he saw I wasn't going to speak, he pressed on.

"Beulah Gilbert, I'm telling you, make all the fuss you want, it won't change a thing. I'm taking the two of them with me. And if you keep this up, I'll divorce you."

He thought divorce would scare me. In this era, after all, a divorced woman was something people spat on.

I clenched my fists so hard the nails bit into my palms, and I felt nothing. The hatred from my last life was still sitting in my chest.

Tortured for twenty years. If I could, I'd have killed him right there. I lowered my head, swallowing the fury inside me, my palms bleeding.

He was braced for me to keep fighting. He never expected me to say, flatly, only one word.

"Fine."

He hadn't counted on that calm. In the second he stood there stunned, I was already out the door.

Heart pounding, I ran straight to the general store, and the first thing I did was pick up the phone and take back the admission spot that belonged to me.

In my last life, my husband, already holding a key position at the factory, was going to sit the college exams alongside me. He landed just outside the admission list, and I was afraid it would wound his pride.

He was the only factory foreman in all the surrounding villages, a man who cared about face. If people found out he hadn't gotten in, he'd be furious. So I gave up my own place, the top spot, and handed him the last opening.

The first thing he did when he got home wasn't to share the good news. It was to tell me the factory in D.C. had arranged a work unit and an apartment for him, so he could study and work at once, and after graduation he'd step into the D.C. factory chief's position.

So he was taking his childhood sweetheart and her son to D.C. with him, and once he was settled he'd come back for me.

I refused. I fought it for days and nights, I even starved myself, and none of it worked. All I could do was watch him leave with Noreen Simmons and her son.

The day I lay dying, the two of them appeared on the television, dressed bright and beautiful, while I lay white-haired on a broken-down bed.

If not for the words spoken just before I died, I would never have known that all twenty years of my suffering had been handed to me by them.

The phone rang, pulling my thoughts back. When I had my answer, the fear that had been hanging inside me finally settled. In this life, I would never step aside again.

Standing in the doorway, looking at the shabby house I'd lived in for decades, my eyes went red.

I slapped the divorce papers straight down on the table.

"Sign them."

I ignored his stunned face, turned, gathered the few things that were mine, and left.

"Do you even understand what divorce means? You actually dare to threaten me with divorce?"

"Julius, you think far too much of yourself."

"I'm a college student. Someday I'll be a factory chief, and you'll always be nothing but a country woman."

He signed. He was certain I wouldn't dare turn the papers in, because without him I'd have nothing.

The cold look in my eyes as I left confused him, and left him uneasy for reasons he couldn't name.

The night the divorce stamp came through, I knocked on that rough man's door. I knew who he really was. He could keep me safe.

"Do you want me?"

He wore only a military-green tank top, his body pulling taut at those few words, a raw force rolling off him.

I slapped the divorce papers against his chest.

"We share the wedding night tonight."

In my last life, wearing the title of a married woman, I missed him for decades. Living it over, I didn't want that regret to go on.

That night, I finally understood why every woman in the village had wanted him for so long, why even in their dreams there was only him.

2: 2

"Sister-in-lawno, wait, you two are divorced now. Thank you, really. If it weren't for you, I'd never get to enjoy the good life in the city."

Being a foreman was already respectable enough for Julius Delgado, and now he'd gotten into college on top of it. He was the finest man for miles around.

"Little early to thank me. Whether you actually get to enjoy that good life is still an open question."

"I know you're jealous of me. You can't stand it, but so what? Julius is protecting me. I'm the one going to Washington with him."

"A widow raising a kid on her own really does have it hard, clinging to some other man for dear life. I hope you can hold on to him."

A pair of hands suddenly seized me.

"Apologize."

Julius glared at me, the fury in his eyes enough to burn me to ash.

"I told you, as long as I'm here, no one bullies Noreen. Anyone who dares had better not blame me for what comes next."

"I'll say it one more time. Apologize."

I pressed my swollen, aching wrist and ground out through my teeth,

"Not a chance."

"Beulah Gilbert, are you provoking me?"

"Don't push me. I don't want anything to do with the two of you either. Keep your woman in line."

Julius hadn't expected me to talk back, and it left a knot of anger in him that wouldn't go away.

He'd meant to spend the next few days warning me off Noreen Simmons, but instead I kept dodging him. For half a month straight, the moment I spotted him in the distance I took another route, and once I was home I shut the door tight and wouldn't answer no matter who called.

That only put him more out of sorts.

There was only a week left before the move to Washington, so while I was getting my things ready, someone with an eye out saw me, and word got back to Julius.

"Even if you sneak along after us, it won't do you any good. I've already signed the divorce papers. The place I was assigned is only big enough for the three of us."

I paused a moment, looked down at the thing in my hands I hadn't managed to put away yet, said nothing, and turned to go inside.

He swung his arm hard and sent all my things flying.

"Have you lost your mind?"

That was what that man had bought for me. Looking at the clothes now smeared with mud and dust, I took several deep breaths before I could barely bring myself back under control.

"Get out."

"You're telling me to get out? Let me make this clear: I won't let you hurt them. If you don't fall in line, don't blame me for what I do."

The pain of being tortured in that past life set me shaking despite myself. I braced a hand on the wall to steady my feet, and every word came out perfectly clear.

"Julius Delgado, I'll say it once more. I am not following you. Don't rip apart the last shred of feeling between us."

My coldness stunned him. He froze where he stood, at a loss for how to react, and I turned and shut the door on him.

Maybe it was my coldness that threw him, since he was used to me lowering my eyes and going along with everything.

So for the past few days he kept coming around to my place.

"Just behave, and once I'm settled I'll come bring you to Washington. You don't need to go after Noreen and her son."

"We're already divorced. There's no need to come warn me about anything."

His face turned cold.

"Divorced? You think I'd believe that? You're just playing hard to get so I'll cave."

Because he knew my nature too well.

"Go explain it clearly to the people in the village, or the two of them will have gossip thrown at them day after day, crying their eyes out."

"I won't. Are they wrong, though? If they went and did it, they shouldn't be afraid of people talking."

I didn't give an inch. He'd chosen to protect the two of them, so I would protect myself. In this life, I would absolutely never live as such a doormat again.

3: 3

"You're going too far. Are you really going to make me use force?"

"She had it coming."

The look he gave me before he left brought back the terror of being tortured in my last life. I clenched my fists and forced myself to stay calm.

The next time I saw him was at the train station.

He stared at me, stunned.

"Aiden Finch actually let you slip away?"

This man was the nightmare I couldn't escape even after coming back to life, and in this life he'd already sold me off this early? Or maybe I just never found out about it last time.

"Julius, what's that supposed to mean? Are you telling me you sent Aiden to break into my house and steal? Because I can call the officers at the institute right now. That would be a whole new lead for them."

"What are you talking about?"

"He was caught in the act."

It hadn't occurred to him that Aiden had been arrested. Useless. No wonder he couldn't keep an eye on me.

Afraid I'd make a scene, he lowered his voice and warned me.

"Behave yourself. Don't you touch Noreen or her son. You know what'll happen if you do."

I was genuinely curious what made Noreen worth so much to him.

Julius saw that I ignored him, his eyes burning with anger the whole time, yet the corners of them kept tracking me. Noreen noticed too.

The train car was thick with smells, and after the boy got on he wouldn't stop wailing. Noreen looked at me sitting there with my eyes shut and clearly hated it, so she deliberately carried the child over to my seat to cry.

She was furious. Why should they be stuck standing while I had a seat?

And even the standing tickets were something Julius had pulled strings to get, or they wouldn't have made it in time for the start of the term.

"Get up and let Noreen sit. Can't you see she's holding the child?"

I just glanced at him and closed my eyes again. Julius went green with rage. He yanked me up hard and shoved me into the corner.

"Are you out of your mind? This is my seat."

"Noreen's holding a baby, she's exhausted. Would it kill you to stand for a while?"

I let out a furious laugh.

"Get up. This is my seat."

Noreen acted like she couldn't hear, playing with the child, and Julius wouldn't let me near it.

The people around us kept their heads down and stayed out of it. Not one of them helped me. I tried to push him aside and couldn't budge him at all.

My face was burning, and I was shaking all over with rage.

Whenever Noreen stood up, Julius took the seat to hold it, and once she was tired he'd stand again and give it back to her.

I stood in the corner gasping for breath, watching the two of them work together so smoothly to hog my seat, and the anger made my heart physically ache.

Two full days and nights, until my legs had gone numb. When we got off, the two of them looked flushed and pleased with themselves, and I was the only one worn out, shoved to the ground by Noreen more than once.

"Beulah, you don't know your way around here at all. You'd be better off coming with us. It's too dangerous for Julius on his own."

"You brought this on yourself."

Before he left, Julius looked at me standing where I was.

"Apologize to Noreen and I'll let you come with us."

They stole my seat and now they wanted me to apologize. I shut my eyes tight and pressed down every bit of anger inside me. I knew this wasn't the time to clash with them.

"No need. You're in my way."

"You never learn. Let's see how long you keep up this act."

I'd made Julius lose face one time too many, and the last of his patience was gone.

"Beulah, Julius means well. Just apologize and come along with us. Even if the two of you are getting divorced, he'd never feel right leaving you here alone."

The sight of her fake sincerity just made me sick.

"Someone's coming to pick me up."

4: 4

"Hmph. You, some girl fresh out of the countryside. Who in D.C. would even know you? You don't even bother thinking your lies through anymore."

When he saw I wouldn't budge, he took Noreen by the arm and walked off, slowing his steps on purpose, waiting for me to come begging.

But the moment they turned around, an army-green car pulled up and took me away.

"Oh, that person in the car looks so much like Beulah."

Julius glanced over, caught only a blurred profile, took one look at the car, and dismissed the thought at once.

"What kind of car is that? She'd never have the standing to ride in something like that. She's just playing hard to get again, thinking I'll come running after her."

Still, he scanned the whole area anyway. One look took it all in, nowhere to hide. Thinking of that familiar profile, he decided it wasn't possible. He was reading too much into it.

He couldn't even guess why I would be in D.C. Somewhere deep down, though, there was a faint unease, and he didn't know where it came from.

"Miss Gilbert, when you gave up your spot back then, we all thought it was such a shame. Thank goodness you came to your senses."

"I'm sorry, Dean. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"It's not too late at all. We'll process your enrollment ahead of schedule right away, so there's no chance of changing your mind."

The dean was afraid of losing a talent like this, afraid I would back out again, and he rushed to lock it all in.

The only thing I turned down was when he offered to have me stay on campus so I could take part in the research more easily.

It wasn't that I didn't want to. It was that that man wouldn't have it. He'd said that if I lived at the school, he'd make me late every single day, and he was a man of his word. In the end, when the dean learned I was married, he said nothing more.

Julius had already moved into quarters at the factory. As the only college student there, the boss gave him the best treatment, and even said that in a month he'd take over as foreman.

He was waiting for me to bow my head, but I never showed up at all, as if seeing me at the train station that day had only been an illusion.

Given my temper, I should have come to make a scene at the factory long ago.

It wasn't until the first day of school that we ran into each other, right outside the gates of Kingsford University.

"What are you doing here? No wonder you never came to the factory to make a scene. So you were waiting to catch me here instead. You really are vicious."

I ignored the fury all over his face and stepped back twice.

"You're reading too much into it."

"You can't have me, so you won't let me live in peace, is that it?"

"I already told you, you're reading too much into it. I have somewhere to be."

Watching me head for the gate, he grabbed me and pulled me off to the side, and this time he couldn't keep his voice down.

"What do you actually want? Dragging this out until everyone knows. I've already signed the divorce papers. I worked so hard to get into college, and you won't rest until you've ruined me, is that it?"

The people around us were all looking at me with contempt in their eyes.

"I'm not here for you. I'm here to register."

He suddenly remembered that I'd taken the college admissions exam too, and then he laughed out loud.

"Did you forget? You scored dead last."

Laughter broke out around us. This was the top school in the country, and someone who placed last coming here to register? Wasn't that a joke?

I shook his hand off and walked straight for the gate.

"Stop her. She's here to cause trouble."