His face went dark in an instant, terrible to look at.
"Alma, are you out of your mind?!"
I raised my brows and looked at him, all blank and puzzled.
"Isn't this what you wanted? I'm giving it to you. So why are you angry?"
Jude looked like the sight of me made him sick. He glared at me for a few seconds, then grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
The moment it slammed shut, the whole apartment shuddered.
The smile dropped off my face at once. I loosened the hand I'd dug into hard enough to leave a bloody welt,
fished out my phone, and messaged the future me.
【Jude has an illegitimate kid out there too. How did you handle it back then?!】
The reply came almost the second I sent it.
【What are you panicking for.】
【As long as nobody runs a paternity test, who's to say whose kid it is?】
【The second that deadbeat husband stops breathing, cremate him right away. Pick the cheapest urn there is, and spend what you save on a bag for yourself.】
I stared at the screen for a few seconds, and the ache that had been swelling in my chest suddenly eased.
Good mood, and my nerve grew right along with it.
【Future me, while you're at it, can you give me a few lottery numbers, or some stock tickers or something?】
【I want to buy a few now.】
A string of exasperated emojis came through, and then a few cryptic codes.
【Don't buy now. Keep the little you've got for insurance and keeping the baby.】
【Once the deadbeat kicks the bucket and the insurance payout and the inheritance land, ease your way in.】
The moment I saw the word "insurance," I bolted upright.
I'd almost forgotten the most important thing.
I pulled up my contacts right away and called my best friend, the one in insurance.
"Sweetie, your next ten years of sales? I'm covering all of it."
She went silent for two seconds, spooked.
"Alma, what set you off?"
I rested a hand on my belly, my tone more generous than it had ever been.
"I want to buy accident insurance for Jude. The highest coverage available, set me up with all of it."
"As long as it's legal and by the book, as long as it pays out, buy as much as you can."
I couldn't wait for Delia Carter to come over, so I had her email me all the contracts to print and sign first.
By the time Delia got there, I'd just signed the last one.
She looked at the thick stack of insurance documents in front of me, then at my face, far too calm, and her eyes went red on the spot.
"Alma, did Jude bully you until you lost your mind?"
She grabbed me and held on, crying harder than me, the one it was actually happening to.
"Jude, that bastard. He swore up and down back then that he'd send her away for good. And now the scum's keeping her stashed away somewhere!"
"Both times he pulled this while you were pregnant! Nobody treats an enemy this cruelly!"
"After everything he's done to you, you're actually buying him insurance, worried something might happen to him?!"
I patted her back gently, my voice so gentle it made even me feel like the perfect wife.
"I've made my peace with it."
"Think of the policy as leaving something behind for my child."
Seeing me like that, Delia flat-out refused to leave me home alone. She insisted on dragging me to a bar to take my mind off things.
But we hadn't been in the booth long when a familiar name drifted over from next door.
"Alma really didn't make a scene this time?"
My hand went still around my glass of juice.
Delia clammed up too and glanced warily toward the wall.
The next booth's door wasn't shut all the way. Through the gap I could see Jude on the couch with his arm around Bridget.
His face was grim, and a few emptied glasses already sat by his hand.
Bridget tugged at him again and again, but couldn't stop him from drinking.
