Once Upon a Marriage

ving with gui

had forgotten something: I was the one who had caught him. Caught him and his affair with my aunt-now my stepmother.

than that, I hated how it all tu

ars a

Aunt Jadeline, who had been away for so long finally returned. I didn't know why she had been gone, only that I missed her. I rushed to the door the

standing on the porch, the last thing

ss on the lips. And the look in their eyes... I couldn't explain it. Confusion

ng was wrong. Very wrong. But I couldn't wrap my young mind around

front of me. Neither of them noticed me at first. They

you doing?" I asked

caught doing something terrible. She looked at Dad for guidance b

rp, a warning tone in his voi

et what I had just seen. What h

racing, the confusion only growing. Wh

't stop thinking about it. I wanted to ask, to demand answers, but I didn'

ence didn'

e. I had to tell Mom. She needed to kno

ed dinner. "Mom," I said, my voice small. "I saw

ting board. I could see the hes

e mistaken. You know how much your father

it. I had seen it and

n my eyes. "I saw them. I saw Dad

ardened, and

Her voice was soft, but there was a

didn't she believe me? Why couldn't she s

ings carried on as if nothing had happened. Only that I couldn't pretend no

ouched each other, it wasn't just familial affection. It was something else. Something i

ing outside the bedroom door, unable to stop myself. I knew I

Dad and Aunt Jade, together in my mom's bedroom, in her bed

young to understand the full extent of it, but

p under the covers and cried. I wasn't sure what to do with what I had se

in the kitchen,

. They're in your bed,

d, her lips pressed

it. You're mak

in her voice. The refusal

I finally understood. Mom had

their trips, Mom sat me down. Her face was pale, her eyes

ed, her voice breakin

t hammered in my chest. My mother knew and

ers trembling as sh

se. Your aunty, she's

s. Jadeline was pregnant and Mo

r

eam to tell her she needed to stop it, to fight back, but I couldn't. I