WHEN MARILYN AGREED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE EVERY WEEKEND SO HER HUSBAND COULD SPEND TIME WITH HIS SON, SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS BEING UNDERSTANDING. BUT AFTER MONTHS OF THIS ARRANGEMENT, SHE CAME HOME UNEXPECTEDLY AND SAW WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON.
I thought my six-month marriage to Scott was built on a solid foundation. We had dated for two years before getting married, and during that time, I got to know his six-year-old son, Ben.
The boy was sweet and shy, with his father’s blonde hair and a smile that could melt ice. His mother, Patricia, seemed fine with me at the time. She even chatted with me when she dropped him off, asking about my work as a high school teacher.
“You’re really good with Ben,” she had once told me, watching him show me his latest Lego creation. “It’s nice that he has another positive influence in his life.”
That kindness changed after the wedding. I saw her less and less, and months later, Scott dropped a bombshell.
It was a quiet spring Tuesday afternoon, and we were both busy in the kitchen. I was preparing dinner and looking out the window at the beautiful rain falling outside.
He was trying to fix one of the cabinet handles that had broken the day before.
Suddenly, he cleared his throat, and I turned my head, raising my eyebrows.
“Honey, I think it would be better if you went to your parents’ house on weekends,” Scott began, still focused on the cabinet.
I blinked. “Excuse me? What? Why?”
He sighed and straightened up, fiddling with the handle in his hands. “Patricia doesn’t want Ben around you anymore. She says it will confuse him. If she finds out you’re here when Ben visits, it will make things difficult. I just want peace.”
I dropped the cutting knife and grabbed a kitchen towel to wipe my hands.
“I don’t get it,” I started. “Ben and I get along really well. He loved the science experiments we did last weekend. Do you remember how excited he was when we made that volcano? He learned a lot. Plus, he loves how I cook.”
“I know, I know,” Scott set the handle down on the counter and ran his hands through his speckled hair. “It’s just… she says it’s different now that we’re married, and she doesn’t want Ben to think you’re also his mother.”
“I’m his stepmother, so…”
“I know. It’s ridiculous. But it’s temporary until Patricia calms down. Please? You know how she gets when she doesn’t get her way. She threatens to reduce my time with Ben.”
“So your solution is to kick your wife out of her own house every weekend?” I frowned and put the kitchen towel back in place. “Scott, this is crazy.”
“Not kick you out,” he backed off. “Just… take a little break on the weekends. Visit your parents. They’d love to see you more, right?”
I felt bad, but I didn’t want to be the reason Scott lost time with his son. I felt obliged to agree.
So that Friday, I packed a bag for the night and drove to my parents’ house, twenty minutes away, passing familiar neighborhoods and the park where Scott had proposed.
Mom opened the door, and immediately, her forehead wrinkled with concern. “Marilyn? What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. I just came for a weekend visit,” I said, forcing a smile as I entered. “I thought I should spend some time with my favorite parents.”
She let me in without saying anything, though I could tell she didn’t believe me. I was glad she let me stay that night, but Saturday morning, during breakfast, she asked me for the truth.
I had to tell her what Scott had asked.
“Why are YOU leaving? It’s your house,” she said, spreading butter on her toast with forced, angry movements. “When I was your age, Henry would never have asked me to leave our house. Not for anyone.”
“It’s just temporary,” I lied, pushing the eggs around my plate. “Patricia is going through some things. This is easier.”
“Easier for whom?” Mom’s voice was soft but firm. “Honey, there’s something about all of this that doesn’t seem right.”
“I know, but can we just leave it?” I murmured, and thankfully, Mom nodded.
But a few weekends turned into every weekend, and then months passed.
Every Friday, I packed my bags as if I were being evicted from my own house, the one I had bought even before meeting Scott.
It wasn’t fair, and according to him, Patricia liked this arrangement, so we had to continue this way. He constantly reassured me that he only wanted me and hated how his ex was acting.
But we had to keep going for Ben’s well-being.
I really wanted to understand because he always seemed very sincere, and I cared about him and his son. But how much more was I going to endure? I didn’t know when I would break.
It happened on a Friday. I was only five minutes away from my parents’ house when the thought “Are you an idiot?” popped into my mind. Why was I accepting this? This was not normal!
I could no longer justify this strange arrangement, so I made a dangerous U-turn and headed back home. I parked in our driveway and used the key to open the front door.
From the outside, I noticed that the house was too quiet for a Friday night, with a six-year-old boy who loved blasting cartoons on the TV.
But I realized what was actually happening as soon as I entered the living room. First of all, I didn’t see Ben anywhere.
Instead, I saw Scott on the couch, with his arm around Patricia. She was wearing my pajamas, the one I had just bought, which was a bit more expensive.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
With a curse, Scott jumped off the couch and hit his knee on the coffee table. “Marilyn! You… you’re supposed to be at your parents’ house,” he said, limping toward me.
I didn’t look at him. My gaze was fixed on Patricia, who hadn’t moved. She just smiled while running a hand over the silk of the pajama shirt. “Well, well. Looks like someone’s off script.”
“Where’s Ben?” I asked.
“At my mom’s house,” Patricia replied softly, crossing her legs. “He’s always at my mom’s on Fridays. They have a special movie night. Didn’t Scott tell you? ” She turned to him with feigned concern. “Honey, don’t tell me you’ve been lying to your new wife?”
The pieces clicked into place. “It was never about Ben, was it?”
“Smart girl.” Patricia smiled and stood up. “I told Scott that if he wanted another chance with me, I needed weekends to see if we could fix things. Although sending you away was his idea,” she shrugged. “He’s always been good at finding… creative solutions.”
I laughed, with a hollow sound. “That’s interesting, because Scott told me something completely different.” I pulled out my phone and pressed play on a recording from the previous week.
I don’t know why I had secretly recorded it, but at that moment, I was glad I had. I knew my relationship was over, but they weren’t going to run off happily into the sunset.
Scott’s voice filled the room: “I love you, Marilyn. Patricia’s acting the same as always. Selfish and petty. I’m just doing this until Ben’s a bit older and can understand things better. Things will go back to normal soon, and then we can think about having our own kids. You’re the love of my life.”
Patricia’s lips twisted as I hung up the phone. Suddenly, she crouched down, grabbed her slipper, and threw it at Scott. “You lying piece of trash! You’ve been playing both sides this whole time? You’re pathetic!”
The slipper flew through the air, hitting a porcelain ornament on our shelf, knocking it over and shattering it on the floor. I didn’t care. It was an ugly thing that his mother had given me.
But then, Patricia moved, grabbed her purse, and shoved me aside, storming out of my house.
“Feel free to keep my pajamas. I know you can’t afford them!” I yelled, looking for maximum pettiness.
She froze for a second but kept walking, not looking back. When I lost sight of her, I headed upstairs to our bedroom with Scott following me, desperately begging.
Ignoring him, I went to his closet, grabbed his precious polos, and threw them out the window.
“If you come any closer to me,” I began, raising my hand to stop him, “I’ll scream like a crazy person, and you know the nosy old lady across the street will call the cops.”
“Please, Marilyn,” Scott stepped back, helpless. But I ignored him.
Out went his expensive suits, then his dress shoes, his watch collection, his golf clubs, and his luggage.
“Now, go pick up your junk from my lawn and get out of my life,” I said in a dangerously calm voice.
“Please listen,” he tried to beg one last time. “I was just thinking of Ben. I wasn’t playing both sides. I was just playing with her.”
“SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
The sound was so loud, I’m sure the neighbors heard it. He stared at me for one last moment, and his shoulders slumped. Finally, he left.
Some curious neighbors gathered on their porches to watch as Scott picked up his scattered belongings. Before leaving in his car, he turned around one last time.
“Marilyn, please. We can fix this. I’ll tell you everything,” he insisted, his voice breaking. “I never meant to hurt you. I was just trying to make everyone happy.”
“I don’t want to know anything about you, except through the lawyers,” I replied and closed the front door.
I leaned against it and took a deep breath as the adrenaline finally left my body.
A minute later, my phone vibrated in my pocket with a message from my mom. She must have been worried because I hadn’t arrived at her house.
“Is everything okay? You haven’t arrived.”
I smiled and replied, “Everything’s perfect, Mom. No one’s ever going to kick me out of my house again.”
