Two Wives, Two Divorces

The Story

The announcement of two simultaneous divorces sends shockwaves through the Harper household. The narrator and her best friend Leah married the Harper brothers, with the narrator wed to the older brother, a fire captain, and Leah to the younger, a surgeon. On their anniversary, the narrator’s husband’s first love locks her in a room during a house fire. Seven months pregnant, she calls for help, but her husband dismisses her pleas, claiming he must save a cat named Megan’s pet because false alarms are criminal. Leah breaks the door down to rescue her, but when she calls her surgeon husband for medical aid, he refuses, insisting he must treat the cat’s injured tail. The narrator loses her baby, and the sight of the doctor with the child shatters her spirit. She declares her intent to divorce, and Leah pledges to do the same, stating the men do not deserve their tears. That night, the Harper brothers receive the papers and panic.