He Fulfilled Her Dying Wishes, So I Ended Our Marriage

On Halloween morning, I woke up to find that my best friend, Serena Shaw, and my husband, Ethan Holloway, had shaved my head bald. "You'd make the perfect jack-o'-lantern—round, bald, and glowing." I didn't break down crying like I used to. I didn't demand to know why they'd done this to me. I simply held up the Venmo screen on my phone to my husband. "Twenty thousand. Send it." This was the seventh time this month. Ever since Serena had been diagnosed with cancer, Ethan had treated her bucket list like the most important thing in the world. She wanted to know what it felt like to be a bride, so he ripped my wedding dress off me in front of everyone at our wedding. She wanted to go on a honeymoon, so he locked me inside the house and flew off to an island with her. I'd gone from crying and demanding answers to feeling completely numb. Eventually, I started putting a price on everything. That same night, at the Halloween party, Serena suggested a shot game. When it was my turn, my shot glass was filled entirely with wasabi. Everyone else got liquor. I was the only one who got wasabi. Ethan didn't stop her. While tears streamed down my face from the burning heat, Serena laughed and snapped humiliating pictures of me. I wiped away my tears and held my phone up to Ethan again. "Forty thousand this time." The smile on his face froze. "Is money seriously all you think about now?" I didn't argue. What he didn't know was that with this forty thousand, I would finally have all $800,000 of my inheritance back. And that would be enough for me to leave him— and this pathetic excuse for a marriage—behind. ... I kept the Venmo screen raised and repeated myself. "Forty thousand. Send it." Ethan's expression darkened. Serena immediately put on that soft voice she always used when she wanted to pretend she was defending me. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have insisted on the whole Halloween thing." "I'm sorry, Luna. When I'm dead, your hair will grow back..." The second she said that, Ethan's expression softened. He sighed, pulled out his phone, and sent the money. "Serena doesn't have much time left. Do you have to put a price tag on everything? When did you become so heartless?" Heartless. Last month, we'd gone camping in the Pocono Mountains. In the middle of the night, Serena suddenly decided she wanted to watch the sunrise. Without a second thought, Ethan loaded up all the gear and drove away with her. He left me asleep in the middle of nowhere. A violent storm hit that day. I came down with a high fever and started bleeding heavily. I nearly lost the baby. I was stranded in the woods for two days before a park ranger finally found me. And now he was calling me heartless. Ding. My phone notified me that the $40,000 had arrived. Ethan's voice was thick with disappointment. "Isn't money what all these tantrums are about? You got it. Happy now?" Money? He seemed to have forgotten. When we first got together, he was a broke college student who could barely afford to eat. When he started his company, I invested the entire $800,000 inheritance Dad had left me before he died. Now I'd finally gotten every dollar back. I'm done. Serena suddenly picked up her phone and gasped. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Luna!" "I meant to send your photo to Ethan, but I accidentally posted it in the GroupMe!" The group chat was already exploding. "Holy shit, is that Luna White? What the hell happened to her?" "Her head's so round and shiny, she really does look like a jack-o'-lantern lmao." Tyler, one of our old classmates, tagged Serena. "Serena, we all heard about your diagnosis. What else is on your bucket list? We've got your back." Serena gave Ethan a shy glance, then lowered her head and typed. "Actually... there is one thing I've always regretted." "If it's possible, I want Ethan to be my husband. Just for three days." Everyone in the group started tagging Ethan. "Do it! Do it!" "You two were always the perfect couple anyway. If it weren't for Luna, you would've ended up together." "Exactly. Luna was always the third wheel. What's the big deal about lending her husband for three days?" Back in college, Serena and Ethan had been everyone's idea of the perfect couple. They were in the same research group and constantly talked about technical things I couldn't understand. All I could do was trail behind them, grabbing their meals from the dining hall and saving them seats. Ethan looked at the messages and shook his head with a smile. He didn't hesitate for even a second. "Fine. I'll do it." Serena immediately sent a string of heart emojis. "He said yes!!!" The group chat filled with congratulations. I stood, picked up my bag from the couch, and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Ethan hurried after me and grabbed my arm. I raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you two are together now, I shouldn't stick around and keep being the third wheel, should I?" Ethan rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Can you stop being difficult?" "It's only three days. Serena just wants to experience this before she dies. You can stay in the guest room for a few nights." "She doesn't have much time left. Can't you just give her this?" I turned toward the living room wall. A massive wedding portrait hung there. Ethan and Serena. Serena had said she wanted to experience taking wedding photos, so I'd been expected to step aside. She had already moved into our house, too. Because she said she was afraid of being alone, Ethan stayed with her every night until she fell asleep. I pulled my arm from his grip and looked him straight in the eyes. "Ethan, I'm not being difficult." "Let's get a divorce."

The words had barely left my mouth when Serena laughed. "Luna, you're adorable. You really haven't figured it out yet, have you?" She walked over to me. "Your marriage to Ethan was never legally valid." My mind went blank. Serena reached into her bag and pulled out a marriage certificate stamped with the county seal, waving it in front of me with a smug smile. "Ethan never filed any of your paperwork with the county clerk. Legally, you were never his wife." She tapped the certificate with one finger. "But this? This is real. Ethan and I got legally married at the courthouse three months ago." The county seal on the marriage certificate gleamed beneath the lights. I stared at Ethan in disbelief. He looked away. He didn't deny it. The day Ethan told me our marriage certificate had been finalized, he'd gone with me to Greenwood Memorial Cemetery to visit Dad. Standing in front of Dad's grave, he'd solemnly promised to take care of me. His eyes had been red as he'd pulled me tightly into his arms. "Luna, you're finally my wife." It had all been a lie. I stumbled back two steps and nearly lost my balance. Ethan rushed forward and caught me. "Luna, it's true. Our marriage... it was never legally valid." "But I had no choice. Serena's condition got worse. Her biggest wish was to marry me." He reached for my face. I turned away. His hand froze in midair before he sighed. "Luna, just give me a little more time..." "I promise I'll take you to the courthouse for real. I'll give you the biggest wedding you've ever seen." "Right now, making Serena happy is what matters most..." There it was again. Every single time, he used the same excuse to force me to swallow whatever pain he'd caused. At my birthday party, Serena complained that things weren't exciting enough and said she wanted a bonfire. So she had several paintings Dad had left me before he died piled up in our backyard and burned. I cried so hard I could barely stand as I tried desperately to pull them from the flames. Ethan held me back and gently whispered, "Luna, they're just paintings. Serena doesn't have much time left. Letting her be happy is what matters most." That same day, Mom suffered a stroke from the shock and ended up in the hospital. She was still lying unconscious in the ICU. "No." I pushed Ethan's hand away. If our marriage had never even been legally valid, what was there to divorce? I didn't even have a marriage to dissolve. All I needed to do now was leave him for good. Ethan mistook my silence for surrender. He visibly relaxed and helped me into the guest room. "Get some rest. You have your prenatal appointment tomorrow. Don't be difficult." I rested a hand on my stomach. The baby suddenly kicked. So softly it almost felt like goodbye. Early the next morning, Ethan knocked on the guest-room door. "Luna, I can't go with you to the appointment today." "Serena wants to go to Six Flags." I didn't answer. There had been a time when I'd begged him over and over to take me to an amusement park. He always frowned and said he was too busy with work. He said amusement parks were for kids. Every single time, he turned me down. Now, because Serena had asked once, he'd cleared his entire schedule. After they left, I put on a wig, called an Uber, and went alone to the hospital downtown. At the OB-GYN desk, the nurse barely looked up. "Prenatal appointment, right?" I shook my head. "No. I want to schedule a termination."

The nurse looked up at me in surprise. "Termination? Are you sure? You're almost four months along. Doing this now would put a lot of strain on your body." "I'm sure." I met her eyes and nodded. Bloodwork. Ultrasound. EKG. After test after test, I sat outside the procedure room waiting. That was when I saw Serena's latest Instagram post. Flowers. A diamond ring. A Ferris wheel. Ethan was down on one knee. The caption read: "He said he'd propose where we're closest to the sky. Forever and always." The comments were exploding. "Oh my God, this is so romantic. Even if it's just for her bucket list, this is beautiful." "If Luna had any sense, she'd stop getting in the way and just leave." "Right? THIS is what love is supposed to look like." I stared quietly at the proposal photo. Ethan had never proposed to me. Six months earlier, we'd been standing in line at a food truck, eating a few-dollar burrito, when he'd casually said, "We've been together four years. Let's just get married." No ring. No flowers. And I'd still cried because I was so touched. I cried because I thought that was enough. I thought being chosen, even carelessly, was still being chosen. "Luna White? We're ready for you." Inside the procedure room, pain tore through my lower abdomen as the cold instruments moved inside me. I gritted my teeth and endured it. What left my body that day wasn't just our child. It was every last bit of love I had for Ethan. By the time the procedure was over, it was already dark. Ethan hadn't called once. Weak and shaking, I slowly made my way upstairs to the ICU. Mom was still unconscious in her hospital bed. "Mom, I'm leaving." "I'm leaving Ethan." The heart monitor suddenly spiked. Beep. Beep. I knew Mom had heard me. My phone vibrated twice in my pocket. Ethan had finally texted. "How did the appointment go?" "Serena's tired. I'm taking her to the hospital for a follow-up. I can pick you up on the way." His concern for me was always an afterthought. I didn't reply. I was about to leave when the hospital-room door suddenly swung open. "Oh, is Mrs. White still sleeping? Poor thing." Serena strode in as if she owned the place. "Luna, with your mom like this... honestly, she might not wake up, right? That's so sad." I stared at her coldly. "Get out. You're not welcome here." Instead of leaving, Serena lifted her hand in front of me and casually played with her hair. A familiar diamond ring glittered on her ring finger. Dad had personally given that ring to Ethan before he died. He'd told Ethan it was the ring he'd used to propose to Mom. He'd entrusted it to Ethan and asked him to take good care of me. "Where did you get that?" I asked through clenched teeth. Serena smiled smugly. "Ethan proposed to me. Of course he'd use the best ring he had." Rage flooded my chest. I lunged for the ring. "Give it back!" Serena shoved me hard. I'd just had the termination and was still weak, but she sent me crashing into a medical cabinet. Pain tore through me. I almost cried out. Then Serena's expression changed instantly. She slapped herself hard across the face and dropped to her knees in front of me. Covering her cheek, she burst into tears. "I'm so sorry, Luna! It's all my fault!" "I can't help it—I'm dying, I didn't mean to take Ethan from you!" "Hit me, scream at me, I don't care—as long as it makes you feel better..."