All Chapters of I Blessed Their Marriage Instead of Ours: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Isla Farrow's expression darkened. She stared at me for a long moment, then raked her fingers through her hair in frustration."What are you talking about? Nate, can you calm down for once? You're always so emotional. Damien is my sponsored student. He's ten years younger than me. There's nothing going on between us. What exactly are you making up in your head?"But the irritation on her face actually calmed me down. I let her go on for a while before I finally spoke."I'm making things up?"You stood me up on our anniversary to be with Damien. You spent my birthday with Damien. You even had him take you to your prenatal appointments. Isla, do you honestly think I'm stupid?"Forget it. I'm done. I don't want to talk about this anymore."I closed my eyes, stood up, and headed for the bedroom. Isla didn't follow. She just stood there watching me walk away, and I didn't hear her voice until I was in the doorway, about to shut the door."You're getting older and you overthink everyt

Damien began, "Tonight some creep was trying to take me away, and Isla couldn't just stand by, so she—""Are you done?" I couldn't stomach the performance anymore—the fake innocence, the wounded look. I cut him off with nothing but contempt. "Actually, I think I'm the one who should be apologizing to you two. After all, you're the legally married couple. That makes me the other man, doesn't it?""Nate!" Isla's face went white. She stepped in front of Damien, shielding him behind her, and fixed me with a furious glare. "We're in public. There's a limit to how far you can take a tantrum."I already explained everything this afternoon, and Damien just explained what happened tonight. What more do you want?"Damien, don't apologize to him. You didn't do anything wrong. Go home. I'll have my driver take you."She signaled her assistant to take Damien out, and just before he left, he glanced back at me. In that single look, I caught the faintest flicker of triumph and challenge.Damien

Isla took a deep breath, propped herself up, and looked at me with careful tenderness."I was wrong, Nate. Can you give me one more chance? I'll file for divorce with Damien tomorrow. I swear I don't have feelings for him."It was really just so he could take wedding leave. I should have thought about how it would make you feel."Once the divorce is done, I'll cut off his sponsorship completely. I won't have any contact with him ever again. Okay?"Looking into her eyes, so earnest and sincere, I felt something deep inside me start to give. Maybe it was because she'd never had a normal family, never learned right from wrong the way most people did growing up. Maybe she'd just made a mistake.Maybe I owed her a second chance.Once the thought took root, it spread and wouldn't stop. Finally, worn down by her relentless softness, I nodded."End things with him completely, and then we'll talk about us."Isla let out a breath of relief and buried her face against my chest."Nate, I

Isla still wouldn't give up trying to explain. I looked at the face I'd once loved so much and delivered the words she dreaded most, slow and deliberate."Isla, no wonder nobody wanted you."Love, when it went far enough, turned into something vicious. I'd heard that before, but I only understood it now.Behind me, Isla finally dropped the mask. My words broke something open, and she started saying whatever came to mind."Nate, you think you're such a catch? Seven years and you want to know why I never married you? Because you're old. Damien is so much younger than you. What could you possibly offer that he can't?"Without me, you wouldn't have lasted a day in this world. You rode my coattails for seven years, and all I did was find someone else. Everyone makes that mistake. What's your problem with it?"That last line stopped me mid-step. I turned around, looked at the woman falling apart in front of me, and nodded with a quiet laugh."You're right. Without you, I wouldn't be i

I listened to everything Isla had to say before I finally spoke, voice flat."Isla, I think you've misunderstood. What I cared about was never whether you and Damien actually slept together. What I care about is whether your heart stayed where it was supposed to be. And it didn't.""It did! I never had feelings for Damien, not—""Isla!" I cut her off, cold and sharp. I was done playing games. "You really don't see it? Everything you did for him, the way you treated him, it's the same thing you did for me, a hundred times over."You've been doing it since the day you started sponsoring him. How does that not count?"Maybe you don't love him. Maybe I'm still the one you love. Maybe he was just a novelty. But the second your heart drifted, even for a moment, it was already over."Isla, there's no going back. Stop trying to fix this. It's embarrassing."By the end, there was nothing but silence on her end.I paused, sighed, and was about to hang up when a broken, choked sound came