C10
“From the moment you married Anne, you sealed our fate, Lennox! Don’t tell me you did it out of responsibility. There are many ways to take care of someone that don’t involve marriage,” I argued.
“Kelly,” he said desperately, “I was forced to marry her. My brother is gone and her child would have been born
fatherless and he would be an easy prey for people to ridicule him. Anne is an orphan, so she has no one to rely on.
How could she manage a child alone?”
I wanted to laugh at his pathetic excuse, but I could not.
“Oh, so she deserves your protection, your sacrifice. Did you ever think about me? If we had married and had
a child, what would we be to you, are we just the other family to you? While you were busy saving her, did it never
856 AM &
When Love Fades with the Wind
I wanted to laugh at his pathetic excuse, but I could not.
“Oh, so she deserves your protection, your sacrifice. Did you ever think about me? If we had married and had a child, what would we be to you, are we just the other family to you? While you were busy saving her, did it never cross your mind that I might need saving too?” I asked,
My voice cracked as I spoke. “Lennox, your so–called love is worthless to me. Please, I beg you, let me go.” Thad given up our child not only to spare him the stigma of being a child born out of wedlock but also to save him from the inevitable question that he would ask, which was “Why does Dad have two families?”
Lennox’s bloodshot eyes brimmed with tears when he heard this, but he still orn between me and his widowed sister–in–law.
I did not want to talk to him anymore so I turned and walked away without looking back.
A police investigation was soon launched into the incident. It didn’t take long before a tall, burly man stormed into Anne’s hospital room, his fury evident. Ignoring her startled cries, he slapped her hard across the face, twice.
“You shameless woman! Do you dare report me to the police for assault? Do you remember how you threw yourself at me? Now you’re playing the victim, huh?” He roared his rage. “Do you think I won’t show the cops those videos of you begging for it? You mess with me and I’ll ruin you!”
Anne who had been slapped hard by him, tried to stammer out a response, but the man was too angry that he was not interested in her excuses. He seethed, “You think marrying Lennox makes you untouchable? Guess what? That kid you’re carrying… it’s mine. Let’s see how he protects you now!”
Her face drained of all color and she begged him to stop talking, but she did not realize it was too late. Standing outside the hospital room, Lennox and his mother had heard everything.
Mrs. Green with her face twisted in fury, burst into the room. She struck the unsuspecting Anne across the face with all the force her trembling body could muster. “You vile woman! I lost my real grandson because of you and now you tell me this child isn’t even from our family?”
Her rage was so great that she closed her eyes and collapsed.
When Lennox, who was about to settle the score with Anne and the man, saw his mother fainted, he immediately called the doctor. A flurry of medical staff rushed in and after extensive testing, they diagnosed Mrs. Green with an acute stroke. She would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
When Mrs. Green leaned about the diagnosis, tears slid silently down her cheeks as regret etched deep lines into her heart.
Without wasting any more time, Lennox immediately asked for a divorce, but Anne refused and clung to this marriage. However, this time, he didn’t give her a chance. Quietly, he gathered evidence of her infidelity and filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery, ensuring that she left the marriage with nothing.
When I heard about the divorce, I felt nothing but a faint sense of sadness. After all, we’re all adults. We were responsible for our own choices. There was no exception.
(The End)
D