I had been married to my husband for three years when I discovered he wanted to leave me for my sister. I warned her about him, but she refused to listen. A month later, she ran to me, claiming she regrets taking him in because he was a monster.
My younger, 25-year-old sister Marla decided to come home for good after studying abroad for several years. She claimed she wanted to settle in the US and immediately rented a house just a few minutes away from mine.
Marla and I would get together with our parents every weekend, and I’d bring my husband James along. James and I met at work and married three years ago.
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Although it’s been three years, James and I decided to put off having children until we were more financially stable to support them. So through the years, it had only been the two of us, and we’d often be too immersed in work to think of anything more than our careers.
During our weekend family get-togethers, I noticed that Marla and James seemed to have inside jokes with one another. I’d catch them exchanging glances and shyly smiling at one another on several occasions.
James had always been more social than me, so he’d always be out with friends after work. One time, while he claimed to have gotten together with a couple of his officemates, I spotted his officemates having dinner without him.
“Hey,” I greeted them as I passed their table. “Where’s James?” I asked.
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They looked at each other nervously, not knowing what to say. My stomach started to twist, realizing he might have been lying to me about being with his officemates all along.
“He told us he couldn’t make it tonight,” one of them finally said. “He said he was going to have dinner with you!”
For a while, a glimmer of hope in me assumed he had planned a surprise dinner for the both of us at home. However, while driving back, I suddenly noticed his car parked in front of one of the town’s newest restaurants.
Immediately, I saw them – my brunette husband, smiling, with his eyes locked on another woman from across the table. The woman he was looking at had the same blonde hair as me and the same bright eyes. The difference between us was that she was five years older than me; it was my sister.
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I could feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. I panicked, not knowing what to do. Did I want to cause a scene right then and there? Or did I want to wait at home and confront him then?
After a couple of minutes of staring at the two of them happily interacting, I decided to go home. I waited hours for my husband to come home, and when he finally did, he was surprised to see me waiting up for him.
“How was your dinner?” I asked him.
James shrugged. “It was good! Great, actually. I enjoyed the company of my friends, as usual,” he lied.
“Really?” I asked him. “That’s strange because I bumped into your friends, and they told me you couldn’t make it to your usual get-together.”
James suddenly started to get defensive. He glared at me as if warning me to watch my mouth. Still, I continued talking.
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“Then as I was driving home, I noticed your car at the new bistro… lo and behold, there you were with someone who looked just like me, except younger. It was as if I was looking at my younger self in the mirror,” I told him.
As soon as I said this, James snapped. “You are NOTHING like Marla, Abigail! Don’t be delusional!” She’s prettier, smarter, and a lot better than you in so many ways!”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was my husband comparing me to my own sister, and was he saying that he preferred her over me? Seeing them at the restaurant was heartbreaking, but hearing those words was devastating.
“So, what do you want?” I said, defeated.
“Well, isn’t it obvious? I want to leave!” he yelled. “I don’t love you anymore. I’m in love with Marla. I’m filing for divorce, so I can finally marry her.”
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He walked away, leaving me alone, crying on our staircase. I cried the entire night and didn’t have the energy to go to work the following day.
When I finally found the strength to get up, I drove to my sister’s house, thinking I could talk her out of pursuing her relationship with my husband.
“He’s not who you think he is, Marla,” I tried to warn her. “If he can find another woman while married to me, he can do the same to you. Cheaters will always be cheaters. He is also unpredictable, violent, and indecisive. You don’t want a man like that.”
Marla laughed at my face. She thought I was so desperate to keep my husband that I was willing to spread lies about him just to keep him.
“Get out of here, Abigail. You’re delusional. James was right,” Marla said, slamming the door in my face.
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I was gutted after losing both my sister and husband. It took me months to recover and get back on my feet, and for the longest time, I was the laughing stock of the town as Marla and James paraded their relationship.
I had no choice but to focus on work and making sure that I was emotionally stable on a day-to-day basis. It was no easy feat, but with the help of some good, trusted friends, I made it through.
But then one day, Marla came to me in tears. “He’s a monster!” she cried. She told me I was right and that she should have listened to me from the very start.
Although Marla’s betrayal still hurt me, I knew I didn’t have it in me to abandon her. “What happened?” I asked.
Marla revealed that she did everything she could to please James: she cooked, cleaned their house, and wore beautiful dresses to impress him, but he never noticed or appreciated it. He’d go straight to bed after work. He was always irritated at minor things and forbade her to see people and wear certain clothes.
Marla thought she could endure all of this until he came home drunk one night. “You’re starting to be the person my sister warned me about!” she told him. James snapped upon hearing this and raised his hand.
“This was the last straw for me. I immediately packed my bags and drove here. I didn’t know where else to go. I’m sorry, Abigail,” she sobbed.
Without hesitation, I consoled my sister, and we went to the police station to report James. He was arrested for hurting her, and we filed restraining orders against him while Marla and I worked on improving our strained relationship.