died my

5

The line went dead, plunging the room into silence.

Katherine, who’d overheard everything, avoided eye contact, clearly hiding something.

Still, she draped her arms around Terry’s neck and murmured. “Wendy’s getting crafty, huh? First the cancer excuse to bring you home, then those frantic calls, and now faking her own death?” “You’re not buying it, right?”

Terry’s doubts evaporated as he processed Katherine’s words. Stroking her hair gently, he replied, “Of course not. She’s playing with fire, using lies like that.”

Invisible and heartbroken, I hovered above them..

I’d never lied to Terry; he just refused to believe me.

If loving him meant death, so be it.

Terry stared at our wedding photo, his forehead creased in thought.

Finally, he sighed, “How did she change so much? She used to be kind and genuine.”

12:24

5/9

He dialed my number repeatedly, met only with silence.

With each unanswered call, his conviction grew – clearly assuming I was dodging the divorce.

His patience wore thin; he looked ready to have me dragged back to sign the papers.

Katherine, oddly enough, was the voice of reason.

“Terry, we need to make Wendy face her mistakes. Her sick mother in the hospital – that’s her weak spot.”

“Cut off the medical payments, and she’ll come crawling back to apologize.”