8
330words
"You think organs are groceries? Pick one up anytime?"
Amanda started to argue.
Harrison arrived. "Mr. Miller! Violence solves nothing!"
Amanda seized the lifeline. "Exactly! Hit me? I’m divorcing you!"
She tossed her head, thinking she’d won.
I met her gaze coldly. "Fine. Let’s divorce."
Panic flashed across Amanda’s face. She looked at Harrison.
He was equally stunned.
"Mr. Miller, surely overreaction?" Harrison blustered. "Minor disagreements..."
Amanda cut him off. "It’s notminor! I never loved him!"
Chaos erupted. Harrison grabbed her arm.
"No! Amanda, think! You haven’t done anything justifying divorce!"
Amanda shook him off. "Harrison, I’m done! I want you and Charlotte!"
I turned back to Charlotte in the room. "Apologize to Noah. Now."
Charlotte, seeing Harrison tangled with Amanda and intimidated by my fury, mumbled, "Sorry," and fled to clutch Harrison’s leg, wailing.
Noah touched his bandage. "Daddy, it doesn’t hurt."
He meant it was okay without her apology.
But I wasn’t letting my son be bullied. He deserved better.
I sat, shutting out their noise. "What happened, buddy?"
Noah hesitated, then whispered. "She hates Mommy. But Mommy keeps fussing over her."
He paused. My heart ached.
He craved the love she wasted.
Noah forced a smile. "She got mad at Mommy. Took it out on me."
Tears welled in his eyes. He looked down, fiddling.
I pulled him close.
He sobbed against my shoulder. "Daddy… does Mommy love Dr. Harrison? Love Charlotte? Not me?"
I couldn’t lie. After a long moment, I nodded.
Noah pulled back, meeting my eyes. "If Mommy doesn’t love us… can we stop loving her too?"
Tears blurred my vision. "Yes, buddy. We can."
Admitting his mother didn’t love him was agony for a five-year-old.
But the world doesn’t owe us love.
We learn to love ourselves first.
Love finds you then.
I soothed Noah. Outside, Amanda shrieked.
Charlotte had collapsed.
A cold dread settled in my stomach. Her new kidney failing already? They’d target Noah again.
