Mandy and Jack are content with their carefree, childless marriage. Going on adventures and group dates, they spend a lot of time with Jack’s childhood friend group. However, Mandy later discovers that Jack has been excluding her from activities. What, or who, is the cause? Discover more…
Over the course of Jack and I’s nine years of dating, our marriage has been the type of tale you could tell with a smile on your face—one full of love, fulfilled dreams, and countless experiences.
Things, however, began to feel a little different about three months ago.
We used to always go to events together, whether they were organized by his buddies or for work, before then. Jack and his mates were on the same football team since high school, so they had known each other before we were married.
Jack had been making up a lot of excuses lately to avoid having me stay at home when he went to these kinds of activities.
He would respond, “It’s just the guys, Mandy,” as he was getting dressed. “Is it truly your desire to spend time with them without the wives?”
To tell the truth, that sounded awful. I knew that a night with only the males would involve drinking, wings, cards, and maybe the occasional cigar, even if our friend group had grown to be our second family.
It was hardly the best use of my time, especially without the wives.
I therefore believed that Jack’s account was true. In any case, I knew the ladies would have been preoccupied with their kids because the majority of the couples had kids.
On the other hand, Kevin was one of Jack’s closest friends; we used to see him and his wife, Marcia, frequently when I went to the grocery store. Before they became parents to twins, we could only meet at the group activities.
She gave me a hard hug from behind and exclaimed, “Mandy!” “Hey, sweetie, are you okay?”
“I’m alright,” I replied, grinning at the twin children occupying her shopping cart. “It’s been ages since I saw you!”
With a small pout, Marcia answered, “Well, yes.” According to what Jack informed us, you two were receiving hormone shots and hoping for a child. I had no idea that you were undergoing in vitro fertilization! Since we ended up having the twins, you know I would have sat you down first.
My head fell back. I was at a loss for words as I faced the woman in front of me. What made Jack tell a lie?
With a worried expression, she inquired, “How are you handling the shots now?”
Lying through my teeth, I said, “It took a while for my body to adjust.”
She exclaimed, “Hopefully this means we’ll see you for dinner next time.” “You being my silent partner in judgment of all the other women is something I have missed.”
Next meal? I considered. What more was it that I had overlooked?
“You ought to have seen some of the other wives’ attire from the poker night two weeks ago!” Marcia yelled, laughing. “I had planned to give you a call later that evening to tell you everything, but I guess something came up.”
At her, I grinned. As furious as I was, I knew that Jack was to blame for everything; Marcia had told me what she had been fed because of Jack.
Are you feeling well, then? While gathering bananas, she questioned, “Everything IVF included?”
Sure, I replied. “I believe my body simply needed a moment to adjust.”
Due of my lack of knowledge about IVF, I was unsure if anything I had said made sense.
I was also perplexed as to why my spouse was lying about it.
If that was his method of expressing his desire for children at last, I couldn’t grasp it. But that was nonsensical. Why would Jack disclose to his buddies that we were attempting to conceive?
I walked to the cashier and remarked out loud, “He just doesn’t want you there.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I wondered what was actually going on during the blurry trip home. I just couldn’t make any sense of it.
I attempted to come up with all the reasons my husband wouldn’t want me there while I sat on the couch in the living room.
Was he going with somebody else? – It would be too dangerous, though. Red-handed, he knew he would be exposed. It would have slipped by one of the wives.
Of course they would have.
I took it upon myself to investigate and find out the truth.
I took a seat and opened my laptop to view Jack and my shared calendar. Generally, invites to events the group planned go directly there. And there it was, a Friday night dinner invitation that specifically said, “wives included.”
It was my assumption that Jack had been removing the invites from the past events that he had gone to alone.
I noticed that the RSVP wasn’t completed, so I did it for both of us and then took it off of our calendar.
I gave it to Jack as a surprise on the dinner night.
I said, “Date night, my love,” as I was getting ready and applying cosmetics.
Glancing at my outfit, he inquired, “Fancy dinner?”
Sure! Usually, we don’t wear costumes. Let’s go ahead and do it. Enjoy the evening and take a few pictures.
Jack’s eyebrows were furrowing in perplexity as I drove; I didn’t tell him where we were heading.
When we got to the restaurant, our companions were silent, which made my husband’s bewilderment turn into shock.
However, as it happened, I had to suffer the shock.
Sitting among the well-known faces was Sasha, Jack’s former girlfriend, who was not only present but also recently married to one of his closest friends.
A whirl of tense exchanges and uncomfortable looks filled the dinner. Sasha gave me strange looks, which made my stomach turn as I savored my salmon. also Jack’s.
As always, she addressed him directly when she talked.
I was at a loss for ideas. Indeed, Sasha was present as a spouse of one of the men, but why had Jack concealed this information from me for such a duration? As a wife, she had every right to be in the group, thus there was nothing wrong with her being there.
But why would Jack withhold the information from me? My thoughts raced in all directions, including the possibility that my spouse was seeing someone else, his ex-girlfriend.
Anticipation of the truth, on both sides, permeated the drive home. Jack was interested in knowing the truth about how we got to the meal. And I wanted to know the real reason behind his withholding information from me. Not to mention the reality of the full IVF process.
“Mandy,” he uttered softly, as though he was carefully considering his words.
Sasha is a new member of the group. Recently, she and Mark got married, at least according to their city hall registration. So she’s back,” he remarked.
“Why didn’t you inform me?” I inquired.
“Because Sasha informed me that having you two away from the activities would be preferable. “Remember when you two last saw each other?” he inquired.
Sasha had attempted to trip me during a wedding rehearsal dinner the previous time we saw each other. She was that trivial.
Jack continued because I remained silent.
Since she attended the same school as the rest of us, she claimed that it made more sense for her to be a member of the group.
at the time of their dating.
“Jack, I’m not sure why you couldn’t have just told me that.” Why would you merely let her make her own decisions? Furthermore, although not all of the wives attended the same school as your buddies, we have become close to one another.
Jack tightened his grip on the driving wheel and said nothing.
“You ought to have told me at first. It was up to me to determine whether or not I wanted to be around Sasha and her pettiness.
He said, “I’m sorry.”
Or is there a different issue at hand? I inquired. “You and Sasha—”
Before I could say anything further, he interrupted me.
Not at all! Mandy, not at all! It’s not at all like that, he cried out.
After we came home, I showered and went to the kitchen where Jack was preparing my usual cup of green tea before going to bed.
“I apologize again,” he said.
“We need to discuss something else,” I remarked.
He sipped his own tea and said, “Yeah?”
How come you told Marcia about IVF? I inquired.
He said, “I don’t know.” “I heard about it on the radio, and I just said it when I saw them all and they asked how you were doing.”
His response made me chuckle uncontrollably.
“The story ends here,” you ask. I inquired to be sure I understood the question regarding children.
Even after talking about it endlessly, Jack and I had come to the conclusion that we were content with our lives as they were. However, we also agreed that, should the time come for us to become parents, we would adopt a child.
“No,” Jack replied with a smile. “We continue to be in agreement.”
I considered all that had been admitted when I went to bed that night. I realized why Jack had wanted to keep me safe from Sasha; she was an odd woman who enjoyed making fun of me whenever we saw each other.
Because she had split up with Jack because, at the time, he was aware that he didn’t want children—biological, adoptive, or even pets—I couldn’t understand why.
When we first discussed our ex-partners, he added, “It was a big deal for her, Mandy.” “Being a mother was her dream job.”
Jack had vowed not to withhold anything from me, so even as I lay in bed, I pondered what would happen at the next event.
“I have a good feeling Marcia will let you know regardless,” he laughed. “Did you see her excitement when she saw you?”
I have no idea how to handle Jack’s IVF deception, so that is the only thing left to find out.
In your situation, how would you have responded?