Before My Husband Even Died, His Mistress Came to Claim His Body,and I Laughed

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My husband had just been given a critical-condition notice, and his mistress barged into the hospital with a crew of men.

The second I moved to stop her, she slapped my husband's will against my forehead.

"Open your eyes and read it, you dog. Giles Gilbert put me in full charge of his final arrangements."

"Now get lost! Or don't blame me for taking out the trash!"

I glanced at Giles, who was still breathing, and figured he wanted to fake his own death so he could run off with her. So I decided to let them have their way.

In under half an hour, she was on her knees begging me for mercy. And I smiled.

1

My husband's condition had turned critical without warning, and the hospital had just issued the notice.

I signed the paperwork and came back from the doctor's office to the room.

A group of people kicked the door open and shoved their way in.

Ignoring me completely, they stripped every piece of medical equipment off Giles's body.

They closed in around me, and I couldn't hold them back.

"Mrs. Gilbert, I know you're grieving, but the dead don't come back. Please don't get in the way of our work."

The one in front wore a mask, but I still recognized him.

My panic settled fast, and I asked calmly, "He's still alive. What do you think you're doing?"

They didn't stop. If anything, their hands moved faster.

The alarms on the monitors kept shrieking, and not one of them so much as flinched.

"We're from the funeral home. Someone just called us to collect the body."

I snapped at them. "This is insane. You want to send a living man to the crematorium? Can't you tell he isn't even dead?"

The man didn't get angry. He just pulled off his mask.

"Mrs. Gilbert, it's me!"

Once I was sure it was Bryan Cobb, I forced down the corners of my mouth. This was working.

He was my neighbor's cousin. Back when Giles wasn't so sick, we used to run into each other around the complex all the time.

"Bryan, hurry up and put the monitors back on."

He stayed planted at the foot of Giles's bed, not moving.

He tried to comfort me. "Mrs. Gilbert, I've worked at the funeral home for years. Mr. Gilbert really has passed. I know it's hard to accept, but it's so hot today. In under half an hour the smell will start."

He sounded sincere, like he wasn't lying to me.

I bit back my smile. Trouble was, the real player hadn't shown yet, so I couldn't let him take Giles away.

I didn't want to keep going on about it, but I warned him again anyway.

I said, "Giles is in critical condition, but he isn't dead. He's only clinging to life because of these machines. Pull them off and you're leaving him to die. If you insist on hauling him out and he dies on the road, that's causing death by negligence. That's a criminal offense. You understand?"

The men Bryan had brought didn't dare to move Giles by force anymore.

He was about to explain when a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"Bridget James, why are you scaring them like this?"

The sight of Evelyn Ramsey's eyes, red and swollen from crying, made me want to pinch my own thigh.

"Giles is gone. At least let him keep a little dignity."

Only when Bryan saw his cousin come into the room did he let out a breath.

I asked, "Who told you Giles was dead?"

"And you just come running to collect the body?"

Evelyn didn't answer me. She threw a death certificate at me.

"Can a corpse die a second time?"