The Heart Condition That Wasn't

The Heart Condition That Wasn't

Gavin

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My life was stable. I had a good tech job, a beautiful home in Seattle, and a decade-long marriage with Jessica, who I thought was the love of my life. She was supposed to be on an overseas work assignment, a big career move we celebrated. Then the key turned in the lock-a sound I hadn' t heard in two years. And she wasn't alone. She pushed a double stroller into our living room. "Michael," she calmly announced, "meet Leo and Lily. They' re mine. And Ethan' s." Ethan. Her high school sweetheart, the one she always said was terminally ill and she was just "helping." My heart jumped, then plummeted. For ten years, Jessica had told me her heart condition made pregnancy too dangerous. I believed her, mourned the children we couldn't have. Now, she waved a dismissive hand, "My doctor said IVF was perfectly safe." Then she handed me a baby, telling me to quit my demanding job. "They need a stay-at-home dad. My work is too important right now." It got worse. I found intimate emails between her and Ethan spanning years, even our wedding anniversary. And a second mortgage on our house, taken out without my knowledge, the money likely gone to him. The final, gut-wrenching blow: I followed her to a honky-tonk bar. There, Jessica, who claimed to hate country music and beer, was line-dancing, beaming up at Ethan-tanned, fit, and very much alive. The woman I married was a stranger. My world was built on a decade of calculated lies. Whatever I felt for her shriveled up and died. I was done arguing on her terms. The next morning, I had divorce papers drawn up. I wouldn' t let her destroy me. I would reclaim my life.

Introduction

My life was stable.

I had a good tech job, a beautiful home in Seattle, and a decade-long marriage with Jessica, who I thought was the love of my life.

She was supposed to be on an overseas work assignment, a big career move we celebrated.

Then the key turned in the lock-a sound I hadn' t heard in two years.

And she wasn't alone.

She pushed a double stroller into our living room.

"Michael," she calmly announced, "meet Leo and Lily. They' re mine. And Ethan' s."

Ethan. Her high school sweetheart, the one she always said was terminally ill and she was just "helping."

My heart jumped, then plummeted.

For ten years, Jessica had told me her heart condition made pregnancy too dangerous.

I believed her, mourned the children we couldn't have.

Now, she waved a dismissive hand, "My doctor said IVF was perfectly safe."

Then she handed me a baby, telling me to quit my demanding job.

"They need a stay-at-home dad. My work is too important right now."

It got worse.

I found intimate emails between her and Ethan spanning years, even our wedding anniversary.

And a second mortgage on our house, taken out without my knowledge, the money likely gone to him.

The final, gut-wrenching blow: I followed her to a honky-tonk bar.

There, Jessica, who claimed to hate country music and beer, was line-dancing, beaming up at Ethan-tanned, fit, and very much alive.

The woman I married was a stranger.

My world was built on a decade of calculated lies.

Whatever I felt for her shriveled up and died.

I was done arguing on her terms.

The next morning, I had divorce papers drawn up.

I wouldn' t let her destroy me. I would reclaim my life.

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In New York, everyone knew Grady Allen lived for me, Emely Harrison. He was my shadow, my protector, my world, and our future seemed inevitable. But as I lay dying from ALS, I overheard him whisper, "Emely, my duty to you is done. If there is a next life, I pray I can be with Kandy." My world shattered. His lifelong devotion wasn't love, but guilt for Kandy Paul, a woman who had taken her own life after he' d left her. Reborn, I found Grady with amnesia, deeply in love with Kandy. To give him the happiness he truly desired, I concealed my own early-onset ALS diagnosis and broke off our engagement, telling his parents, "I won't chain him to a dying woman out of a sense of duty he doesn't even remember." Despite my efforts, Kandy' s insecurity led her to frame me, accusing me of throwing her engagement ring and setting fire to the mansion. Grady, believing her, threw me into a muddy pit and later choked me, snarling, "You're not even as good as a dog. At least a dog is loyal." During a kidnapping, I saved Kandy, nearly dying myself, only to wake in a hospital to learn Grady had spared no expense for her, while I lay abandoned. Why did he choose her, even when his body instinctively reached for me? Why did he believe her lies? I had given him everything, even my life, to set him free. Now, I would truly be free. I married my brother, Jeremiah, who had always loved me, and left Grady behind, whispering, "Be happy, Grady. We're even now. I'll never see you again."

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