Memory Restored, Love Destroyed

Under the covers, I was sleeping soundly when the lights snapped on and flooded my vision with blinding brightness.

Jolted awake, I opened my eyes wide and saw a tall man with a straight posture standing by the door, wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. His expression was utterly cold.

It took a few blinks to realize that this was my husband, Jude Dixon. When he spoke, his voice was steady and emotionless.

"Why are you sleeping in the guest room?"

Clutching the covers, I sat up and forced a dry laugh. "I just got my memories back, so it feels strange. Let's just sleep in separate rooms for now. I need time to adjust."

He nodded as if it didn't matter. "Suit yourself."

Then, he casually added, "You didn't call me today."

I gave him a confused look. "Call you? Why would I? There's nothing I need to talk to you about."

His demeanor cooled further as he replied, "In the past, you would have called me nonstop if I wasn't home by 10:00 pm."

As memories of my past behavior hit me, I cringed so hard I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole. "I'm sorry. That won't happen again."

Looking at the embarrassing moments felt like an older and more mature version of myself stumbling across my middle-school feed. It was so mortifying that my scalp tingled.

The hypnosis into amnesia had happened because one midnight, I had called one of Jude's patients, Maddie Pittman.

I had called her a slut and accused her of faking depression to seduce another woman's husband. I told her if she was really sick, she should take medicine instead of stripping her clothes and climbing into a man's bed.

When she broke down crying from the insults, Jude took the phone and calmly told me he would be home soon.

I smugly assumed I had chased off a potential homewrecker, but when Jude returned home, he told me, "I'm taking Maddie along to stay in the mountains for three months. Being close to nature will help her heal."

Our son, Oliver Dixon, excitedly raised his hand. "I'm going too! Maddie gave me candy, and I'm going to keep her company."

I stared at them in disbelief. "What about our anniversary trip? I've spent two weeks planning everything, and we promised we'd go once Oliver's vacation started."

"The trip is off. Maddie's mental state is deteriorating, so I have to focus on her treatment," Jude declared.

"I want to go to the mountains! I don't want to go on a boring trip with Mom; I like Maddie better anyway."

Of course, I refused and hysterically fought back. Jude impatiently shoved me away, while Oliver rammed into me with his head.

There was a sharp pain before red blood spread from between my legs. That was how I lost the baby I had been trying to conceive for half a year.

For fear that I would cause more trouble, Jude forced an experimental, immature hypnosis technique on me so I would lose all my memory. Then, he abandoned me at the hospital.