The moment of heart fluttering
Chapter 1
Ten years I’d been filling in for my runaway
sister, living out her marriage contract.
And all it took was me sitting in her favorite
chair.
Her kid, her abandoned kid who I’d raised,
pushed me off the freaking third–floor
balcony.
I was lying there, spine cracked, begging him
to get help.
He just sneered at me, just like his dad.
“You don’t deserve to touch Mom’s stuff!
You’ll never be her!”
“Think someone’s gonna save you? I hope you
end up a cripple. Then Dad will toss you out
like trash!”
I couldn’t believe the words coming out of the
It felt like a knife twisting in my gut.
After the ambulance ride and a whole lot of
screaming in the ER, I managed to dial a
number overseas.
“Professor Davis, I’m ready to come home.”
1
No sooner did I hang up, then Greg, my
husband, and my folks barged in, dragging a
sulky Tyler along with them.
Tyler glared at me, all teenage attitude. “Why
should I apologize to her?”
“She was sitting in Mom’s chair! All I did was
yell at her, and she freaked out and fell!
She barely even bled, so it’s probably another
drama show.”
The more awful stuff he spewed, the less my
parents or my husband seemed to care.
Just stared at me, eves full of judament
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I didn’t even bother arguing.
Just stared blankly out the window.
Greg, though, couldn’t help himself. “Hey! The
kid’s talking to you. At least look at him. What
kind of mom are you?”
I laughed, a bitter little sound. “What kind of
kid doesn’t care his mom is hurt and just
keeps yelling?”
Greg’s face darkened. “That’s because you
don’t treat Tyler right. You’re always playing
the victim to get sympathy.”
Not treat him right?
Tyler was born with health problems.
I was the one who stayed up all night when he
was sick.
I learned everything, like I was some kind of
medical resident.
I spent ages online searching for healthy
recipes.
My piano fingers turned rough and swollen.
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If Tyler had a bad dream, I’d stay by his side.
Greg never noticed any of it.
Tyler either.
Greg kept lecturing, “I only asked one thing
when you married into this family. Just take
care of Tyler. Is that so hard?”
“If you can’t do that, then I’II…”
“Divorce me then. I don’t want to be Mrs.
Greg anymore.”
Greg looked at me, shocked.
I guess he thought the only reason that I
married him in the first place was because my
parents had begged.
The original plan was for my sister, Ashley, to
marry Greg and make my parents more
money.
Ashley got pregnant and ditched the
marriage, leaving me in the crossfire.
My parents drugged me and sent me to
Greg’s bed.
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Greg was left with a marriage and a kid.
Now he only threatened to divorce me to get
his point across.
“Fine, you want a divorce? Then let’s get a
divorce!”
My parents exploded.
“Amy, what are you saying? You can’t get
divorced! Who’s gonna take care of Tyler?”
Their faces showed the same disappointment
they had when I didn’t want to marry Greg.
I didn’t say anything.
My parents rushed to say, “We will give you
the keys to your old house. You can come
back whenever you want.”
They took away my house keys after I married
Greg.
Plus, I wasn’t allowed to come home unless I
was with Tyler.
“You’ll only see the Greg’s house as your real
home if you don’t have anywhere else to go.
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Then you’ll take care of Tyler.”
Even when Greg kicked me out, they didn’t let
me back in.
I didn’t say anything.
Greg, though, thought he was winning.
“Alright, you’re not hurt that bad. Don’t get so
worked up. When you’re better, we’ll take
wedding photos.”
We didn’t even have a single photo together.
Even if we were together at a party, Greg
would yell at me for taking pictures with him.
