On Halloween, My Husband Bet I'd Never Leave Him, So I Stopped Waiting novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Diana's Opinion

Diana rules against the loan in front of Sylvia, wearing diamonds, and the next morning offers the full amount in a hospital parking lot for one condition.

"You're letting Diana decide whether my mother gets treated?"

Russell had put the phone down and was straightening a pen on his blotter, perfectly calm.

"Diana thinks clearly. She doesn't believe every problem is solved with a checkbook."

"I said I would pay you back!"

"Then stop shouting."

I held my repayment plan so tightly that the paper creased.

Diana arrived twenty minutes later in a cream suit, with shopping bags from three stores hanging from one arm.

A diamond necklace lay against her collarbone.

"Oh, Sylvia." She put the bags down and took both my hands. "Russell told me about your mother. It's awful."

I pulled my hands away.

"She needs rehabilitation, and I'm asking Russell for a loan."

Diana looked at the estimate and tilted her head.

"Twenty-four thousand? That's a lot of money, and Russell has always been careful about boundaries with money."

She turned to him.

"I know you love her, darling. But if you make an exception every time something goes wrong, she'll never learn to stand on her own."

Russell nodded.

My chest went tight.

"My mother is in a hospital bed," I said. "I'm not asking for clothes or a holiday."

"Calm down, Sylvia," Russell said.

Diana's face crumpled into hurt.

"I'm only trying to help."

"She means well," Russell said. "Stop attacking her."

I looked at my husband and thought of the man who had once promised to stand next to me whatever came.

Now I was begging for my mother's treatment in front of the woman he had known since he was seven.

I pushed my plan across the desk.

"I'll sign anything. Your lawyer can draw it up. I'll pay every month."

My voice shook.

"Russell, please. She can't lift her left hand, and I can't let her lose this chance."

His face went hard.

"This is exactly what I always feared," he said.

I went still.

"You told me you never cared about my money. Then I say no, and you cry and shout until you think I'll give in."

"Because she's my mother!"

"I won't give up my principles because you're upset." He pushed the papers back to me. "If you truly weren't after my money, you would respect my decision."

I could not get air into my chest.

Diana was straightening her bags on the floor beside us.

One of them carried the logo of a jeweler, and I knew it, because she had posted about that shop while I sat in the hospital yesterday.

I looked at the necklace on her throat.

"What about her?"

"What?" Russell said.

"Her necklace. The bags." I pointed. "You can spend thousands on her, and you won't lend me twenty-four for my mother."

Diana lowered her eyes.

"They're gifts, Sylvia. I never asked him for any of it."

"She doesn't even have to ask!" My voice cracked into a shout. "You give her everything, and I'm greedy for trying to save my mother!"

Russell stood up so fast the chair rolled back.

"Enough! I have known Diana all my life, and she has never come to me for money. Why do you always have to measure yourself against her?"

"Because I'm your wife!"

The tears came down my face, and he did not come around the desk.

"Apologize to Diana," he said. "She doesn't deserve your jealousy."

I looked from one to the other, and for a moment I saw Diana's face when she thought that nobody was watching, and it was satisfied.

For seventeen years I had explained every purchase.

I had explained the shoes, and a birthday gift for my mother, and why a design course was not a waste.

Now I was explaining why my mother deserved a doctor.

I wiped my face and gathered the hospital papers.

"I'm not apologizing," I said, and walked out.

That night I sat in the hallway outside Mom's room until the nurses turned off the lights.

At eight the next morning Russell sent me a text.

[My decision about your mother's expenses hasn't changed. Stop using tears and temper to push me.]

Once I would have written him three paragraphs to defend myself.

This time I took a screenshot and saved it with the estimate.

Then I opened Diana's account.

She had posted a picture of the necklace beside a row of new bags, with the jeweler's name tagged.

[Being spoiled is the best feeling. Thank you for always giving me the best.]

I saved that one too.

Later that morning I went down to ask the hospital's financial counselor what else I could try.

I was crossing the parking lot when somebody said my name.

"Sylvia."

Diana was leaning on a long silver car with her sunglasses pushed up in her hair.

"Russell tells me you still won't accept his decision."

I kept walking.

"I have nothing to say to you."

She came after me at an easy pace.

"I could help, actually."

I stopped.

Diana stepped into my path and touched the necklace with two fingers.

"Your mother needs twenty-four thousand dollars. I can give it to you. You'd never have to repay it, and you'd never have to beg Russell again."

I stared at her.

Last night she had talked him into refusing me.

Now she was holding out the money he had refused.

She leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"But I have one condition."

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