The Substitute Bride

"Thank you, Mom. But I don't want to eat right now," Charles said, going to shut the door. Melissa shot her hand out to prevent the door from closing on her.

Charles sighed with exasperation and looked at his mother. "What's wrong now?" Charles had almost run out of patience; the one thing he wanted more than anything else right now was to be alone with Sheryl where no one could disturb them.

"I... There is one more thing. I didn't want to tell you because you'd be worried." Melissa paused and Charles raised an eyebrow, curious.

To Melissa's delight, Charles asked in a worried voice, "Mom, what happened? Is everything alright? Are you feeling unwell?" Charles was thinking that Melissa's shoulder might still be hurting.

Melissa nodded. "Yes, my headaches are making me feel dizzy." She pressed her fingers against her temples and rubbed them in demonstration.

"Okay, Mom. I'll call a doctor to come." Charles turned to go back to his bedroom, intending to call the doctor from there.

But Melissa reached over to grab his arm. She didn't want the doctor to come because she didn't want her pretense to be discovered. Then her plan would be ruined.

She couldn't let that happen.

"Charles, no need to call a doctor. I'll be fine after some rest," she told him.

Charles looked at her, then shook her hand off his arm, resuming on his way to the bedroom. "Mom, I'd better call a doctor. What if your headaches get worse?"

Charles eventually found his phone; he dialed the number of the family doctor, but then he stopped and paused. Then he hung up and walked over to the bathroom door. Sheryl was inside. "Sher, Mom's not feeling well. Let's go down and take care of her together."

He thought that because his mother had a bad impression of Sheryl, it would be best if he gave Sheryl a chance to prove herself to her, so that Melissa would like her more.

Sheryl looked from the mirror to him. "What?" she asked worriedly. "Mom is sick? I'll be there in just a minute."

"Okay, I'll take her to h

, Sheryl still got the cold shoulder from her.

Seeing Sheryl getting frustrated, Charles leaned over to pat her shoulder consolingly with one hand while he snaked his free arm around her waist.

Silence once again overtook the room.

Melissa started to think about how she would handle the doctor when he arrived. She just pretended to be uncomfortable in front of Charles. What could she do if the doctor found out her ruse?

After a while, she gave up thinking and decided that she would keep up with her pretense. If the doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, he wouldn't be a good doctor. Melissa was a good liar and she could spin stories that everyone would believe. She was good at this.

Leila had guessed already that Melissa was pretending to be sick when she heard that Melissa was not comfortable, and seeing her like this only proved it. She could see that Melissa was a proficient liar, and that her lying and manipulation skills helped her out a lot, in all sorts of situations.

Then she noticed the way Charles was consoling Sheryl and felt a little pang of jealousy. She wished she was the woman in his arms instead of Sheryl, and that Charles was consoling her not Sheryl.

Charles, Melissa, Leila, and Sheryl were all in their own thoughts; silence continued to loom over them, and the room was deadly still.