After Granting My Husband and Amputee Friend Love, They Regretted It Madly

Start Reading

My best friend was in a car crash and lost a leg above the knee. She'd barely come out of surgery when her husband sent over divorce papers.

Her own mother stood in the hospital doorway and wouldn't even look at her, calling her a cripple, dead weight, refusing to take her home.

Without a second thought, I took her in myself.

My husband, Rod Dickerson, slammed down his bowl and chopsticks right there. "Glenda Sullivan, have you lost your mind?"

"A woman with one leg, needing help to eat, bathe, use the toilet. You want to drag this whole house down?"

I couldn't bear to turn her away. I promised him, over and over.

"She has nobody now. I can't just leave her out on the street."

"Just a few months. Once I get her a prosthetic, she'll go."

After that, I was up before dawn and down after dark, emptying bedpans, wiping her clean, feeding her, doing everything I could.

I chased down dozens of manufacturers across the country and drained my savings to have a smart prosthetic custom-fit to her.

I hurried home clutching the fitting contract, only to walk in on the two of them going at it in the bathroom.

"Won't you find me repulsive? A cripple, not whole?"

"How could I? You're my Venus. No legs suits you better. Makes everything so easy"

Jade Fox tilted her head back with a soft, coy laugh,

and caught my eyes without warning.

It was the dead heat of midsummer, and I felt like I'd dropped into a pit of ice.

Five whole minutes passed before the bathroom door slid open.

Rod, wrapped in a towel, lifted Jade and settled her carefully into her wheelchair, then took the hair dryer and dried her hair with real care.

Then he pulled over the cashmere blanket and tucked it around her, slow and thorough.

Rod had always been the alpha type. In eight years of marriage he'd never once lowered himself to do these little things for me.

Only when all of it was done did he look up, as if he'd just noticed me.

"Why are you back early? You didn't say a word."

Flat, like nothing had happened.

"If I'd said a word, how would I have caught this cheating little show of yours?"

Jade's eyes went red, tears trembling on the edge.

"Glennie, it isn't what you think."

"My phantom pain was so bad just now, I couldn't stand it."

"Roddy only came in to rub it for me. We didn't"

She couldn't finish. She lifted her hand and beat hard at her own stump.

"It's all my fault. I'm useless."

"I never should have lived. I'm just a burden to you both. I'm sorry"

She cried until she couldn't breathe, the skin of her stump going red from her own blows.

Rod rushed over and pressed her hands still, aching for her.

"I'm the one who wants you. It has nothing to do with you. Don't talk like that."

Then he turned to me, his eyes going cold.

"Glenda, do you have to be so vicious?"

I was shaking all over, my hands and feet gone icy.

"Vicious?"

"The two of you were carrying on naked in my bathroom. Am I supposed to praise what a handsome couple you make?"

Rod let out a cold laugh.

"Who was it that cried and begged to bring her home in the first place?"

"Who said she had nobody, and told me to help take care of her?"

"Now I've helped take care of her, and you're unhappy about it?"

"Glenda, be reasonable."

His words landed like a slap across my face.

For months it was me up before dawn and down after dark, emptying bedpans, wiping her down, feeding her.

Before this last trip, I'd even arranged for a caregiver. All I asked was that he lend a hand.

"I told you to help take care of her, not to take her to bed. Have you two no shame?"

I swung my arm and slapped him hard across the face.

His head snapped to the side, a thread of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Don't hit him!"

Jade threw herself down from the wheelchair, dragging herself toward me inch by inch.

"It's all my fault. I seduced him."

"Glennie, if you want to hit someone, hit me. Don't blame Roddy!"

Rod bent down to lift her, but she pushed him away.

She was set on crawling to my feet, and there she looked up at me, her whole face wet with tears.

"Glennie, I know I've wronged you."

"My husband divorced me, my parents don't want me, and Roddy is the only one who doesn't find me disgusting."

"You're so healthy. You'd be just fine without him."

"But I can't. Without him, I can't go on living."

"Give him to me, please. I'm begging you."

Jade kowtowed frantically, and Rod rushed over and scooped her into his arms.

"Don't beg her."

"I'm the one who wants you. I'm the one who wants us together."

"What needs to be said, I'll say it."

Right in front of me, he pressed a soft kiss to Jade's forehead.

When he raised his eyes to me, they were full of cold distance.

"Glenda, it's come to this. Nothing anyone says makes a difference now."

"Let's get a divorce."

I stood where I was, my heart clenched so tight I couldn't breathe through the pain.

I looked at the two of them holding each other.

One was the husband I'd stood by for eight years.

One was the best friend I'd trusted for over twenty.

Together, they'd dealt me the deadliest blow.

Something warm and metallic rose in my throat, and I staggered back a step.

"Fine."

"Divorce."

Rod froze for a second, like it hadn't occurred to him I'd agree so easily.

We'd gone from school uniforms to a wedding dress together.

At our poorest, we couldn't even afford a basement room.

We spent nights wrapped in one old down jacket, crammed together under a bridge.

Through days that hard, I never once talked about leaving.

He'd probably assumed I would cry, make a scene, beg him to come back.

His expression softened, and a thread of apology crept into his voice.

"You can't put all of this on me and Jade."

"I'm a normal man. You brought a young, pretty woman into the house and made me take care of her."

"Something happening between us, isn't that only natural? You should have seen this coming back then."

Every ounce of strength had drained out of me. From head to toe, there was nowhere that didn't hurt.

"I owe you an apology."

"But Jade thinks of you as her best friend. Don't hold this against her because of what happened."

"She's frail, and she takes things to heart. She can't handle being upset."

"From now on, just treat her the way you always have."

I lifted my eyes and caught sight of myself in the mirror.

My eyes were webbed with red, dark shadows pooled beneath them.

For three months, chasing down the best prosthetic, I'd run all over the country and barely slept a full night.

Once, he would have ached over that. Now his eyes held only her.

"When did it start?"

"On our anniversary. You said something important came up and you had to leave on a business trip."

"I was miserable, so I had a couple too many. I mistook her for you."

Watching his eyes slide away, I couldn't help the bitter laugh rising in me.

Rod prided himself on being able to drink anyone under the table.

In business, he'd outlasted more seasoned old hands than I could count.

Except for the day we got our marriage certificate, I had never once seen him drunk.

"Rod, do you even believe what you're saying?"

Caught out, he flushed and turned nasty.

"Fine, I did it on purpose. So what?"

"Glenda, you're too domineering. You handle everything yourself. You never need me for anything."

"Even in bed, you're stiff as a plank, the same position every time, boring me half to death."

"Jade's different. She knows how to be sweet, how to lean on me."

"With her, I actually feel like a man."

It felt like my heart was being wrung to pieces.

Back then he'd fallen for me at first sight, said the way I stood on my own two feet, self-made and shining, was too captivating for words.

Now every one of those qualities he'd once cradled in his palms.

Had turned, in his mouth, into unforgivable sins.

I didn't want to fight anymore. I turned to go.

Rod called after me.

"Jade's been sleeping in the master bedroom lately. Switching rooms out of nowhere, she'd probably lie awake all night."

"Glenda, from now on you take the guest room."

I thought I'd misheard.

"What did you say? This is my house."

I'd paid the down payment. I'd overseen three months of renovations.

And now he was telling me to go sleep in the guest room?

Rod frowned, his face full of displeasure.

"She's in no state to be put through this right now."

"You're healthy. What's the harm in making do for a few days?"

I lifted my head and looked around.

The magnolias I loved on the balcony had been swapped for showy peonies.

The clean leather sofa was gone, replaced at some point with a country-style fabric one.

Even the wedding photo of Rod and me on the wall had vanished.

The home I'd arranged with my own hands had become unrecognizable without my noticing.

Jade pulled out a bank card and held it out to me.

"Glennie, I'll give you all my money. Just let me have Rod, okay?"

"Aren't we best friends? Didn't you always say whatever you had, if I wanted it, it was mine?"

I stared hard at the bank card in her hand.

That was the joint account Rod and I had opened together.

We'd agreed to build it up, to set it aside as a trust fund for the child we'd have someday.

Just how much did he love her, to hand another woman our entire future?

I couldn't help the bitter laugh.

"Jade, you're using my money to compensate me?"

"What, stealing my husband wasn't enough? You have to come and rub it in my face too?"

Jade's eyes went red in an instant.

"I didn't, I really do want to make it up to you."

She choked up and couldn't go on.

Rod pulled her into his arms and soothed her under his breath.

"It's all right, don't bother explaining anything to her, she's not worth it."

"Your phantom limb kept you up half the night hurting. Get to bed early tonight, be good."

"Tomorrow when you wake up, I'll take you to that new sushi place."

They flaunted their affection right in front of me, shameless.

The master bedroom door shut, leaving me alone in the empty living room.

The contract on the table was stamped with the words "Smart Prosthetic Customization Agreement."

For three months, hunting down the best-fitting prosthetic, I'd been to nearly a hundred manufacturers.

All told, I'd spent five hundred thousand, every cent of the savings from eight years of work.

I couldn't bring myself to buy a three-hundred-dollar dress for myself.

Yet for her I'd picked the most expensive silicone sleeve, the most flexible joint.

All so she could walk normally someday and start over.

Looking back now, it was a colossal joke.

She never needed to stand up at all.

All she had to do was lie there playing the victim, and she could take my husband, my home.

I slept badly all night, one nightmare after another.

I dreamed of being small, of my parents divorcing and neither of them wanting me, of being dumped on the street.

I dreamed of my stepbrother cornering me in my room, of telling my mother and getting a hard slap for it.

"Barely more than a child and already no good, nothing but a little seductress."

Jade was my one salvation. She split her allowance and gave me half.

"Glenda, I've got you from now on."

Other kids called me a wild child with no parents.

She'd charge in and fight them, and come back with bruises on her face, still grinning at me.

"See, I won. Nobody's going to bully you anymore."

She was the one light of my entire teenage years.

So after her car accident, I wanted to give her everything I had too.

"Glenda, Glenda, wake up..."

I opened my eyes, throat dry and raw, my whole body burning.

Rod stood there holding a thermometer, frowning.

"A hundred and two point seven. You're running a fever and can't take yourself to the hospital?"

"Is putting on this pitiful act to compete with Jadie for attention actually fun for you?"

"If Jadie weren't so kindhearted, worrying about you and insisting I come check on you, you'd just lie here and let it drag on?"

So even being cared for while sick was Jade's charity.

Looking at that face, still handsome as ever, I couldn't understand it. The same man, and yet unrecognizable.

Our third year together, our business failed and we huddled under a bridge in the dead of winter.

I was running a high fever and we had no money for a cab.

Rod carried me on his back, walked five miles through the snow, his feet covered in blisters.

"Glennie, once I have money, I'll never let you suffer again."

That pneumonia nearly killed me.

It was Jade who quietly covered the medical bills.

Eyes red, she jabbed a finger in Rod's face and cursed him out.

"Rod, if you can't give Glennie a happy life, then I'll take her away."

Back then, we held on to each other's hands, sure we could walk through life together.

How did it come to just me, somewhere along the way.

My phone rang. Jade had sent a pregnancy confirmation report.

Rod shot to his feet, so worked up he could barely string words together.

"Jadie's pregnant. I'm going to be a father."

He turned to go, then stopped at the door and looked back with a warning.

"Don't you dare go make trouble for Jade over this."

"She can't take the stress. If anything happens to that baby, I won't let you off."

Counting the days, she must have gotten pregnant on my wedding anniversary.

My head throbbed like it was splitting apart, even breathing hurt.

Three people was too crowded for one love. I'd just step out.

The fever left me weak all over, drifting in and out for who knew how long.

Then the door slammed open and Rod stormed in, seething.

He threw his phone down in front of me.

# Disabled mistress moves right in #

# Jade Fox deserved to lose that limb #

The pictures were close-ups of Jade's amputated limb, along with a few shots of the two of them embracing.

The comments were nothing but abuse, vicious beyond words.

Then he pulled up a video. Jade's face in it was ghostly white.

"It's all my fault. I'm the one who wronged Glennie."

"I'll pay for this with my life. Please, everyone, stop."

The video cut off, and Rod jabbed a finger in my face.

"Glenda, happy now?"

"Jadie slit her wrists. She's in the emergency room right now."

"If anything happens to her, that's two lives, and I'll make you pay for it in blood."

My head was spinning, but I braced myself and tried to sit up.

"It wasn't me."

"If not you, then who?"

Rod's eyes looked ready to devour me.

"You're the only one who's seen her stump, and the only one who hates her."

"If you didn't leak it, what, she did it herself?"

I wanted to explain, but I didn't have an ounce of strength left.

Rod grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the door.

"You're coming to the hospital with me!"

"When she wakes up, you apologize in front of everyone and set the record straight!"

By the time we reached the hospital, Jade lay quietly in the bed.

Rod was called away to pay the bill, and Jade slowly opened her eyes.

"You posted the photos yourself, didn't you?"

She let out a soft laugh and rested a hand on her belly.

"I didn't have a choice. Roddy keeps clinging to the old feelings. He won't bring up divorce with you."

"So I just had to give him a little push."

"You're not afraid the smear campaign will destroy you?"

She smiled, her eyes full of calculation.

"Afraid of what? Roddy will protect me."

Then she suddenly curled up, clutching her stomach, and started to wail.

"Glenda, I'm begging you!"

"Spare my baby, he's innocent!"

"I already promised I'd leave once he's born. Why are you still hitting my stomach?"

Rod strode over and shoved me hard to the side.

My lower belly slammed into the sharp corner of the nightstand.

Pain tore through me, and something warm ran down my leg.

In the haze, it came back to me that my period was already two months late.

I clutched my stomach, unable to stay on my feet, and grabbed at the leg of his pants.

"Rod, save our baby."

Before I could finish, Jade let out a low moan.

"Roddy, my stomach hurts so much. Will our baby be okay?"

Rod kicked me aside. "Glenda, you're despicable."

Then he scooped up Jade and ran out.

The pain was more than I could hold up against, and I passed out.

When I came to, I was in a hospital, and the nurse looked at me with contempt.

"You lost the baby."

My hand went to my lower belly on instinct.

A little life had been there once, one I had waited eight years for.

And its own father had pushed it out of existence with his own hands.

The phone on the pillow kept buzzing.

A flood of calls from unknown numbers and messages full of abuse.

It turned out Rod had posted a long statement online, saying our marriage had fallen apart long ago and we were already going through a divorce.

Saying I'd turned love into hate, maliciously exposing a disabled girl's privacy and driving her to slit her wrists, that I was rotten to the core.

Saying he and Jade were truly in love.

And to back it up, he'd added two videos.

In the first, my mother sat facing the camera.

"This daughter of mine, she's been trouble since she was little. Loose and shameless from a young age, always chasing after men."

"I warned her long ago, but she never listened."

Then my stepbrother, slouching and smug.

"I'm not too ashamed to admit it, she once threw herself at me, no shame at all."

"A woman like that, nothing she does would surprise me."

I felt like I was breaking apart.

The people closest to me had betrayed me, one after another.

They'd even torn open the scars I'd hidden away and laid them bare for everyone to see.

The whole internet was in an uproar, calling me a whore, calling me heartless.

The young nurse giving me my injections aimed the needle off the mark on purpose, again and again.

The back of my hand was one big bruise, and she never offered a word of apology.

Pinned at the top of my messages was one Rod had sent half an hour ago.

"Once you're awake, quit playing dead. Apologize to Jadie publicly."

"And find the time to file the divorce papers. I don't want my child born branded a bastard."

I stared at the screen, and the pain spreading through my chest slowly sank away.

I'd meant to leave without a sound, so neither of us owed the other a thing.

But they had to press for the kill, grinding me into the dirt.

Then fine.

We had a score to settle now.

"All right. I'll apologize."

Three days later, Jade was discharged.

The hospital entrance was packed with bloggers and reporters.

The moment I appeared, the jeering rose from every direction.

I let it wash past me, calm-faced.

"Today, I'm here to apologize to Jade Fox."

"On the screen is the apology letter I prepared carefully. Please, everyone, watch."

The screen lit up.

The smile froze on Rod's face.

And Jade's face went white as paper in an instant.