The Substitute Bride

Carlson stared at Laura for a long while before he finally made up his mind. "If you stop me, I'm going to leave you. Do you understand? I'm not going to tolerate such an unreasonable wife."

Laura was dumbfounded. 'What did he just say?' They may have had their disagreements, but he had never made such a bold declaration like that before. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the man in front of her. It was like all of a sudden, Carlson wasn't the husband she had known for so long. She could feel something cold from him that she hadn't felt before. He was no longer the man who always did her bidding.

"So you want to divorce me?" Laura asked, still in disbelief. She couldn't be too sure — maybe Carlson didn't mean it, and maybe it was an impulsive statement. The more she looked into his eyes, the more evident it became how serious he was, and it took her everything to not completely spiral down into panic.

Anthony saw the tension between them, and intercepted, "Alright, that's enough. You're both acting like children. If you don't want to apologize, then that's that. I'll go with dad, and you'll have nothing more to do with it. How's that?"

Laura stayed silent. How did she end up in such a position, she wondered. It was all quite a series of events. Laura was a prideful woman, but she would rather go through it with her son than leave it be. "No," she sighed in defeat. "I will go with you."

They arrived at Sheryl's place in the evening with all kinds of fruits and tonics as gifts. Arthur and Amy were inside with Sheryl, and were ready to leave when they heard a knock on their door.

Nancy went to greet their guests, but her face went sour when she saw Anthony's face on the other side of the door. Her demeanor instantly turned unwelcoming, and she turned them away. "What do you think you're doing here? You'd better leave."

"Nancy, I'm just here to see Shirley, I promise. Has she gotten better? Please let me see her," he pleaded. Anthony knew they had every right to turn him away, but he truly wanted to check on the little girl.

Nancy plastered a bitter smile on her face. "Sheryl and Shirley are completely fine, as long as you stay away from them. They're better off without you bringing your mess into their lives. No one wants to see you." Ready to leave it at that, she moved to close the door.

"Nancy, please." Anthony held it by the edge, desperate to stop h

ant to end it properly. Won't you let us do this?"

The expression on Arthur's face finally softened at the sincerity of Carlson's words. He knew he could at least trust the man's heart. But before he could say something, Laura interjected, "That's right, Uncle Arthur."

With her tone, she only made things worse. "After all, they were a couple. What's so wrong about it? Anthony was drunk that night and he couldn't control himself. He didn't mean to do it. Is no one capable of being the bigger person and letting it go?"

What she suggested made Arthur's eyes go wide. He couldn't believe her words. "What's so wrong about it?" He took a step closer. "He was drunk? He couldn't control himself?" At that point, he could tell there was no hope for that woman. She was blinded by her arrogance and selfishness, and there would be no reasoning with her anymore. "Get out." His tone went deadly cold.

"Grandpa Arthur…" Anthony quickly tried to remedy the tension again. "My mom hardly ever thinks about what she says, she'll say anything to get a rise out of you. I'm the one responsible for my actions here. I'm the one who's at fault. Will you please let me through, Grandpa Arthur?"

All softness was gone from Arthur. "No." His refusal was direct. The whole episode was put on pause, however, when Sheryl came into view. The others went silent when she approached the door, and Anthony was overcome with shame. The more he saw her, the worse he felt.

"Sher, you don't need to avoid me. I only want to see Shirley. I want to see for myself if she's gotten better. There's nothing behind it, I swear."