A not so Perfect Marriage
We were in the most beautiful restaurant and I wanted to propose. I needed to suck it up and gain my confidence to ask her. I really didn’t know what was going on in my head. I needed to providently see this through and imagine the rest of my life with her. I saw it and knew that this is what I wanted for the longest time. I stood up and commented on how beautiful she looked. I knelt down to one knee and asked, “Mary Joanne Keating, will you spend the rest of my life with me in eternal happiness?” She smiled awkwardly and finally said, “Sure.” I was the happiest man on Earth. Everyone else in the restaurant began congratulating us. All I wanted was to be with her for the rest of my life. Nothing could ever go wrong.
Two years passed and a lot has changed. “Can you get off your butt and help me put this stupid diaper on Zach! You never help me with these things. And I thought we were supposed to switch off on these tasks! I’ve been slaving away trying to raise this child while you’re doing squat.” Life got a little more complicated than I thought. We had our first baby eight months ago and ever since then, it was nothing but crying, screaming, and no sleep. Soon after our marriage, I received a promotion that took up all my time. I was now the CEO of Carson’s Company. Mary had been complaining to me that I’m never around and that I don’t help her when it comes to raising Zach. He was a stubborn baby. I never knew a ten pound infant could have so much energy. “Michael! Are you having your day dream when you just shut me out?” She was right. This was just a mechanism I use all the time to escape the real world. “Yes dear! I’m coming to help you right now!” I walked into the room and it was a battlefield. Flying bottles, shooting vomit, and laser of urine. I sucked it up, guarded myself with a pillow and helped her change his diaper. Mission accomplished. I realize that doing all this work to take care of Zach must’ve made Mary crazy. So I wanted to surprise her with a vacation to Paris. I’ve wanted to go to Paris for quite some time now. I called my niece and asked her to babysit for the rest of the afternoon so I can bring the exciting news to Mary at dinner. We went to the same restaurant where I proposed. I wanted to calm her down and put some romance back into our lives. We definitely needed it. “Honey I’m sorry I haven’t been helping you with the baby but I have some exciting news! We’re going to Paris!”
“What? Oh my gosh! Now I can finally see the Eiffel Tower! Uh! This is exactly what we need. What about Zach?”
“We’re bringing him with us. We leave in two days.”
I was so happy that she was happy about the trip. I had yet to give her even more exciting news that I booked a five star cruise for half the trip. As we got home, Mary started complaining about feeling nauseous. She spent an hour in the bathroom. I started getting worried. When she finally came out, she said she also had exciting news for me. “I’m pregnant! No wonder I’ve been feeling tired and nauseous for the past week. Look!” She handed me one of those test tubes and it showed positive for a baby. One was a lot, but now two? “Honey are you okay? You haven’t said anything.”
“Yeah! No yeah! That’s amazing! It’s gonna be spectacular!”
“Ok good! I thought you weren’t happy about it” she said with relief.
“Well come one! Lets start packing!” All that was going in my mind was all the stress and annoyance that would follow his or her birth.
Now it was the day of the trip. I was still looking forward to the trip. At least I had something to look forward to. I booked us first class seats. “Michael, this looks so fancy and expensive, I love it! Uh, you’re the greatest!”
“I know, it’s so nice.”
I never had a problem with flying, unlike Mary. “Hi! Miss? Stewardess? Hi, can I get two martinis on the rocks?”

“Mary what are you doing? You’re pregnant now, you can’t drink that.”
“Oh yeah. But you know how I get when we fly. I just need a little drink for relaxation and then no more for me.”
“Ugh. Fine but only one!’ She drank that martini like it was water. After she doused that drink, she went into a heavy slumber. “Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.” Her snoring kept me up for the whole ride.
Looking out the window as we arrived at the airport, Paris looked nothing like what I saw from the cinematic movies; clear blue skies, fresh air, and lovely people. The air was marred from the excessive smokers, not to mention the heavy rain. We took a cab to our hotel. The hotel was grand, beautiful, and very expensive. Mary didn’t think twice when she started drinking the complementary drinks. “ Mary! What are you doing! You’re pregnant!”
“I’m fine. I can handle a little bit. Don’t worry.” Mary was starting to scare me because she drank way too much now that she was pregnant.
We went to the “La Fronde” to eat dinner and it was divine. There were chandeliers everywhere. Two hundred dollars a person was the cost and that didn’t excite me too much. Mary kept drinking and drinking until I finally got fed up with her demanded that we leave at once. As we went back to the hotel, Mary said she wasn’t feeling too good. “Honey, I’m not feeling too well. I’m going go out and find a spa for relaxation. Okay?”
“Alright, but don’t be out too late.” We went our separate ways for the night. I had nothing to do so I took a stroll down the street. As I was walking down the street, I couldn't help but think about Mary's strange attitude. I felt like she wanted us to go our separate ways for the night.
Three hours later, I come back to our hotel room to only find Mary with another man in bed. “You monster! How could you have done this! You…you liar! I knew stuff like this was happening ever since we had our first child. But I put it aside for the sake of Zach. I’ve been keeping a close eye on you ever since you opened that anonymous bank account registered to you. You’re trying to syphon my money!”
“Well I’m going to do better that! Once we sign the papers, I’m gonna take half of everything you’ve got and keep the children.”
“Oh so that’s what you are, a gold digger!” Mary took her things and left. I thought this was going to be a good vacation. I guess it will be, now that she’s out of the picture. “Gosh, what have I done? She’s taking my children away from me.” I went to the hotel bar because of depression and had a few drinks. No, I actually had thirty-two shots of tequila and vodka. I came out of that bar so drunk that I couldn’t think. I went to the valet and gave him my ticket. I was so hammered but luckily for me, I could still drive perfectly. It is a gift that I can drive perfectly normal even though I am drunk. I just wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower for the midnight lights. I was especially cautious because I didn’t want to get into any trouble. I kept on driving fifteen miles under the speed limit for precautionary measures. I safely parked in the parking lot without a scratch on my car. I knew I could drive even though I was drunk. It was still 11:30 so I figured I had enough time to take a short nap. The next thing I know, I’m in the hospital with bandages all over my body. There were so many people in my room that it became hot from all the body heat. “Who are you people?”
“Sir, I’m Chief Richeleu. You were out last night drunk driving.”
“Did I do something wrong officer? I drove fifteen miles under the speed limit and obeyed every law.”
“Sir, that is absolutely false! You must’ve been so drunk that you made that up.” It turns out that I was driving one hundred and twenty five miles per hour on my way to the Eiffel Tower. I hit twenty-eight cars, one of which I hit into the river. Thankfully, nobody died. I totaled my car after all those hits and that wasn’t even the worst part. The officer said that I was driving on the sidewalk going one hundred miles and crashed into the Eiffel Tower’s leg. Still, I’m so lucky that the leg was protected with a hard cement block. But that still wasn’t even the worst thing. One of
the twenty-eight cars I hit was Mary inside a cab. The doctor said that she suffered fatal injures to her spine and would never walk again. She was in the next room still recovering. I had to see her and apologize. “Doctor! My wife is pregnant. Can you check if the baby made it or not?” After ten minutes of testing, he came back with the results. “Sir, your wife was never pregnant. Are you sure she was?”
“Positive, she showed me the test tube.”
“Well I can assure you that she isn’t pregnant.”
“Zach! Where’s Zach!” I had totally forgotten about Zach because of Mary’s injures and the news of her not being pregnant. The doctor told me that he was in another room next to Mary’s. I rushed over and wanted to see him. As I found the room, there were officers guarding the door and didn’t let me in. They said that since kidnapping is very common here, they would need a DNA sample to match up the results. I quickly gave them a swab of my DNA and the most peculiar thing happened later. “Sir, we can’t let you in. Your DNA results don’t match up, therefore I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the door.”
“This has to be a mistake. He is my son. I can tell you everything about him.”
“We will need your passport for verification.” The passports matched up and they finally let me in. The doctor said that he experienced some minor injuries but nothing-fatal thanks to Mary who blocked all the debris. “Doctor! I can assure you you have made a mistake. That boy is my biological son.”
“I can assure you that he only has a match of DNA with your wife.” I was so puzzled. How could this be. Could it be possible that she cheated on me and that the mistress is really Zach's father.
Mary started feeling better that evening and decided to go back to our hotel. I had a lot of questions to ask her but felt a little guilty about badgering her with all my questions. I decided to put it off till tomorrow afternoon. I was still pissed about the incident that happened last night. I can't help but think that she never loved me. “Did she even have any feelings for me. I'm such a fool.” I needed a drink. But that's what got me in huge trouble in the first place. I can't even believe that they didn't throw my butt in jail. Thank goodness I didn't kill anyone. The only person I wanted to hurt was Mary. I wanted to strangle Mary for what she did. My fists tightened, my head throbbed, and my body went so tense that I couldn't move freely. I needed to do it. I needed revenge. Two hours later after she woke up, I stormed to the bed room and started yelling at her. “You b****! I'm going to...” I put both my hands around her neck and held tightly so that she wouldn't be able to yell for help. I wanted to teach that gold digger a lesson for all that she did to me. I might've choked her to hard but I felt no remorse. I knew she wasn't pregnant thanks to the doctors tests. I figured she told that to me so I wouldn't leave that dead beat. I finally let go and grabbed her hair so she couldn't run away. “Is this the life you pictured yourself in when you said I do. Or did you picture it where you take my money and leave me?” She was crying so hard that I had shut her up with a pillow. “If you tell anyone of this incident, I will make you pay! You hear that?” She was so scared she didn't even move or talk for hours. “We're going to eat dinner. You're coming!”
Dinner was pretty good despite the fact that Mary was radiating negative energy with her silence. “I need to use the restroom.”
“Then go!”
“Daddy, can I use the bathroom to?”
“Of course, go on ahead. Do you need my help?”
“No! I can help him with that,” Mary said with caution. Ten minutes gone by and they still haven't come back. I stood and headed to the bathroom to see what was taking them so long. I couldn't find them. I searched both men and female bathrooms. It turns out that there was an exit in the back and they must've ran off. I thought to myself that they couldn't have gone far. I sprinted out and started looking for them everywhere. She must've planned this whole thing. I remained calm and thought to myself that a woman of her knowledge wouldn't get too far. I sprinted down the street and caught a glimpse of her running away with Zach. I rushed over there
and was going to give her a surprise of my own. When I finally caught up to her, she had two police officers in front of her. She had must've spotted them on the way. “Mister, put your hands around your back. You're going to jail.” Mary told them about everything I did to her. Now I wanted her dead. I grabbed the officers knife and threw it at her with all my might. The officers later pinned me down and bashed me over the head. The knife pierced through her stomach and caused her to lose a tremendous amount of blood. Soon after, fell down unconscious and so did I.
Once again, I wake up in the same hospital with officers crowding my room. This time, one of my hands were handcuffed to the bed as precautionary measures. “So, is that b****, Mary dead?”
“Sir, Mary is alive and well. Although the knife went into her stomach, it wasn't a vital spot.” I had no clue why but I felt kind of relieved to hear that she was alive. I don't normally have the instinct to kill someone. Besides, now that I'm going to jail for a good amount of time, Zach will still have his mother.
I spent two years in Paris’s prison and later got transferred back to my hometown. At least I get to see my son once a week along with my ex-wife. I still had eight more years to go till my sentence was over. Maybe only three years if I behave well. “Hi Zach! Have you been a good boy? Make any new friends? Has Mommy been feeding you well?”
“Come on Zach, we have to leave and go see your new daddy perform on stage.” It seems like she already moved on and married another rich guy. I kept thinking to myself, “What I would give to rewrite the past of all the huge mistakes I made. Why did I even get married in the first place? Because she was pretty? Was I lonely? Damn it! I should've waited for the right one instead of this no good money thief. Marriage sucks.” I hated the life I was living in now. There was only one thing I needed that gave me the will to survive. I just kept repeating it to myself over and over again. “Three more years, just three more years till I can be free from this hellhole and finally kill that rotten b****!”