A few days later, someone sent me a screenshot of Megan’s social media.
In the photo, she was leaning against Claire like they were family.
Both of them were smiling into the camera, luxury shopping bags arranged neatly in the foreground.
The caption read: Shopping day with my beautiful PhD mom. Some ugly old hag can stay mad and jealous.
It was obvious who the ugly old hag was supposed to be.
I looked at the picture for a long moment.
Then I put my phone down.
Nothing.
No anger.
No heartbreak.
Just emptiness where pain used to live.
I went back to the compound and continued living the life I had finally started building for myself.
Then one evening, I got a text from David.
How have you been lately?
I didn’t respond.
A few days later, another came.
Are you eating properly?
Then another.
If you need anything, let me know.
I didn’t know what kind of game he was playing, and I didn’t care enough to figure it out.
He had wanted love. Freedom. A younger woman.
I had given them all to him.
Now his concern only felt absurd.
Around that time, a new retiree joined our social circle.
A man in his sixties, former military, upright posture, sharp mind, surprisingly funny.
He was cultured without being arrogant.
That alone made him the opposite of David, who had spent so many years as a professor that he thought every conversation was a lecture.
I had been reading again, really reading, and one day I asked him about something I didn’t understand.
One of the ladies snapped a photo of us talking.
It turned out beautifully, so I posted it online.
That single picture caused a storm.
Jason called me almost immediately.
“Who’s that old man?” he demanded. “How long has it been since you divorced Dad? You’re already trying to snag somebody? At your age, do you have no shame?”
I listened to him rant.
Then I used a few phrases I had learned from my new friends and cursed him out so thoroughly I felt ten pounds lighter afterward.
It turns out there’s something deeply healing about not swallowing your anger.
A few months later, I got a call from an unfamiliar number.
The second I picked up, Megan was crying on the other end.
“Mom, Dad was in a car accident. He’s in the hospital. Come quickly.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
In my last life, David had crashed after hearing the news of Claire’s wedding.
He had been diagnosed with a high spinal injury and spent the rest of his life bedridden.
I had thought that by letting him go this time, maybe that tragedy wouldn’t happen.
But fate, apparently, had its own habits.
After hanging up, I went to play cards with the ladies as usual.
We laughed. We argued over points. We ate sunflower seeds.
My phone rang again and again.
I ignored every call.
We were divorced.
He was no longer my husband.
And there was no law in the world that required a woman to spend the rest of her life paying for other people’s choices.
A few days later, I was coming back from the market when someone grabbed my arm.
Jason.
The bags in my hands spilled, vegetables rolling across the pavement.
He looked furious.
“Have you lost your mind? That place you live in now isn’t somewhere just anyone can enter.”
“I live there,” I said.
He gave a cold laugh. “You’ve really gone crazy. What’s next? You’re going to claim you’re royalty?”
I drew in a breath. “What do you want?”
“Come home. Dad’s paralyzed. He needs you.”
I stared at him.
“You should ask Claire.”
“We’re divorced, but he’s still my father,” Jason shot back. “Even if not for him, then for Megan and me. You should come.”
When I didn’t move, his voice softened.
“Mom… while he was unconscious after surgery, he kept calling your name. We all know he still has feelings for you. And honestly, since you’ve been gone, my sister and I haven’t been doing well. We need you.”
I looked at him and said quietly, “Need me for what? To become your unpaid servant again?”
His face stiffened.
“Mom, how can you say that? We’re family.”
“Family?” My voice finally rose. “You stood by while your father divorced me for another woman. Family? You once said I was nothing but a free maid in this house. Family? When that truck came, you shoved me away to save your precious new mother.”
Jason’s face drained of color.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
I turned to leave.
He grabbed my arm again. “No. You’re coming with me today. If you don’t, no one will take care of Dad.”
He started trying to push me toward his car.
Then the gate to the compound opened.
More than a dozen men in uniform came striding over.
Jason had never seen anything like it.
He nearly stumbled backward on his own.
The man at the front saluted me. “Ms. Carter, please go inside. We’ll handle this.”
I nodded and walked in without looking back.
I never found out exactly what they said to Jason.
But from that day on, the harassment stopped.