Stars Hang Low Over the Wide Open Plains
Chapter 4
When I said “divorce,” Jason froze, genuinely taken aback by my resolve.
After a stunned silence, impatience and scorn flickered across his face. “This again? Debra, can you grow up? Is it fun to threaten divorce every time we argue?”
“I’m not making empty threats,” I said calmly, a deadening numbness settling in my chest. “I mean it. We’ll file the paperwork tomorrow. Michelle stays with me. And I want everything I brought into this marriage back—every penny. The house, the car, the five hundred thousand. All of it.”
The mention of money stripped the last trace of composure from his face.
He stood, looming over me, his tone thick with derision. “Debra, what gives you the right? Michelle is *my* daughter. The house is in *both* our names. You think you can walk away with everything? Dream on.”
“The house was my pre‑marital asset, and you know it,” I shot back coldly. “As for Michelle… what kind of father do you think you are? Do you even deserve her?”
“Don’t I deserve her?” he snapped, as if I’d stomped on a raw nerve. “I’m the one breaking my back out there to provide for this family! And you? You lie around at home, can’t even take proper care of a child, and you have the nerve to fight me for custody?”
Just as our argument peaked, the doorbell rang.
Jason stormed to answer it, irritation written all over him.
Angela stood on the doorstep, dressed to impress, holding an expensive‑looking fruit basket. Taking in the tense atmosphere, she put on a calculated look of surprise and concern. “Jason? Debra? What’s… what’s going on? Are you two fighting again?”
Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped inside. Her gaze landed on me, carrying a subtle mix of appraisal and smug satisfaction.
“Debra, please don’t be angry with Jason. I heard about what happened yesterday. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t asked him to come over and help me, he wouldn’t have been so exhausted, and he wouldn’t have accidentally scalded the baby. I came specifically today to apologize.”
Her words were polished, every sentence an apology, yet each one poured gasoline on the fire.
*It’s all my fault… asked him to come over and help… he was so exhausted…*
She was reminding me that the root of Jason’s mistake lay with her—and with me, the unreasonable wife.
Jason jumped in immediately, defensive. “It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself. *She’s* the one who’s being impossible!”
“Jason, don’t say that about Debra!” Angela tugged at his sleeve, her eyes welling up with practiced tears. “Debra just had a baby; she’s exhausted. Debra, I brought you some fruit. Eat up, get your strength back.”
She set the basket on the table, then drifted over as if by accident. Leaning in, she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper only I could hear. “Debra, don’t push your luck. Who do you think you are? If you hadn’t trapped him with a pregnancy, do you really think Jason would have married you?”
My fists clenched.
“A man’s body tells you everything about how he feels,” she added with a light, mocking laugh, her eyes sweeping over me in contempt. “Look at yourself. Fat, ugly, with that hideous scar across your belly. What man would want that? Not like me. I’ll always be young and beautiful.”
She paused, leaning closer until her lips almost brushed my ear, and delivered her most venomous line. “Jason told me he finds you repulsive. If it weren’t for the baby, he wouldn’t touch you with a ten‑foot pole.”
My head snapped up. I stared, my gaze burning.
Her face held nothing but open challenge and the smug posture of a victor.
Across the room, Jason looked at her with tender concern, his voice soft. “Angela, you’re too kind. She doesn’t appreciate it. Let’s just ignore her.”
In that moment, the last thread of my composure snapped.
Summoning every ounce of strength I had left, I raised my hand and slapped her across the face with all my might.
***Crack!***
The sound echoed through the silent living room.
Angela clutched her cheek, staring at me in disbelief.
Jason reacted first. He shoved me away violently, roaring, “Debra, what the hell! How dare you hit her!”
Weak from childbirth, I staggered back, my hip slamming into the corner of the coffee table. A searing, tearing pain shot through the fresh incision on my abdomen.
I gasped, the color draining from my face.
But Jason didn’t spare me a glance. All his attention was on Angela.
Gently cupping her face, his voice laced with worry, he murmured, “Angela, are you okay? Does it hurt? Let me see.”
Tears immediately spilled down her cheeks. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing pitifully. “Jason, I… I just came to apologize… I don’t know why Debra hates me so much… Waaah…”
“I know, I know you didn’t deserve this,” he murmured, holding her close and patting her back as if comforting a priceless treasure. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you come. Don’t worry, she won’t get away with this.”
He turned, fixing me with a gaze of pure ice and disgust. “Debra,” he said, each word deliberate and cold. “Apologize to Angela.”
Bracing myself against the coffee table, I slowly straightened. The pain in my abdomen and the agony in my chest twisted together, threatening to choke me.
I looked at the man and woman clinging to each other. I looked at my husband in name only, watching how tenderly he comforted another woman, how cruelly he treated the wife who had just given birth to his child via C‑section.
I started to laugh. I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
“Apologize?” I repeated the word, my voice a ragged whisper that didn’t sound like my own. “Jason, you want me to apologize to *her*?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Now.”
“Fine.” I nodded. Then, under their stunned gazes, I grabbed the fruit basket from the table and hurled it onto the floor with all my remaining strength.
Fruit scattered and rolled across the tiles.
“That’s my apology!” I pointed a trembling finger at the door, my voice raw and torn. “Both of you—get out of my house! Now!”
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