Discovering His True Colors

I was supposed to check into the hospital the next day.

As I was mentally preparing for it, I called out to my husband, Rupert Anderson, who was in the kitchen, "I'm going to the hospital tomorrow, babe. Do you have the money ready?"

He came out of the kitchen holding a plate of fruit, casually popping a piece into his mouth. "Money? I gave it all away."

I froze. He'd never talked to me like that in all our years of marriage. Without thinking, I asked him what he meant.

"I gave the money to Lillian," Rupert said.

He didn't seem bothered at all by the shock on my face. He was about to sit down and continue eating his fruit.

I couldn't believe it when I heard that name. That was my emergency fund! How could he do that to me? And to give it to Lillian Leary of all people? What the heck was going on?

I kept pushing, and he finally snapped and told me the truth, "I helped her start a shop. Ever heard of 'investing'?"

I was already on edge from everything that had been happening lately. His words were the last straw.

I lost it, hitting and kicking him in a blind rage, even knocking the plate of fruit to the floor. "That was my emergency fund, Rupert! How could you do that?"

He pushed me away, and I went crashing to the floor.

"You lunatic!" Rupert yelled. "Lillian needs the money for her shop. What's the big deal with me giving it to her? You've got advanced stomach cancer. There's no cure! Why would a dying person fight the living over anything? You can't expect Mom and me to end up with nothing, can you?"

I sat there on the floor, stunned, suddenly seeing a side of Rupert I'd never seen before. He'd never talked to me like that.

We met in college, went through all those years together, and eventually got married. He never cared that I was an orphan—if anything, he felt bad that I had to work so hard on my own.

Everyone who knew him always said such great things about him. How could he have turned into someone totally different? He always took care of me during our marriage, and we never fought like this.

Then came our routine checkup not too long ago, and the news that I had stomach cancer. That was when he dropped the act and rushed to hand over our 200 thousand dollars in savings to someone else to start a shop.

I couldn't help but wonder who I'd really been married to all these years. Maybe he'd been wearing a mask this whole time.

Seeing the shock on my face, Rupert softened his tone as he continued to explain himself, "We've only gotten 200 thousand dollars saved up. That wouldn't even cover your treatment. We might as well give it to Lillian as an investment.

"Once her shop starts bringing in money, the returns will cover your treatment. Just hang in there a little longer, babe. You really think I'd mess with your emergency fund, huh?"

I let out a dry laugh and fell silent. It was all nonsense. We'd been together for years, and I knew exactly how Rupert acted when he was lying.