After my husband became hurt, he begged me to hire a nurse to look after him. Weeks later, the nice young caregiver was at my door, shaking. “I can’t keep this to myself any longer… It’s about Bryce. I calmed down and didn’t think that what she was about to say would end my marriage.
The hospital called at 11:47 p.m. Bryce’s car had gone off the road and hit a pole.
The staff was preparing him for surgery in an emergency.
I remembered Bryce’s smile the night we met, which made me feel like the only person in the world, and how soon we became a team.
Bryce was the other part of me. What would I do if he didn’t make it?
I went to the hospital in a fog, crying as I reminisced about the day he proposed to me. We had just been dating for two years, but when things are going well, you don’t think about the time.
Just last night, we were dreaming about our future kids.
Bryce had said, “Two kids.” “A boy and a girl, with your eyes and my stubbornness.”
“Good luck to us if they get your stubbornness,” I remarked, and he teased me till I couldn’t stop giggling.
Now, everything was turned upside down.
Bryce was already undergoing surgery when I got to the hospital. They said that his right leg was broken badly.
For a long time, I waited.
It felt like a long time before a doctor in scrubs came to see me.
The surgeon also said, “Your husband is doing fine.” “We fixed the bone, but some nerves are still hurt.” He may be able to walk again, but it will take months of therapy. “Everything from managing pain to physical therapy.”
My legs almost gave out from relief. He was still alive. But the words “nerve damage” and “might walk again” kept coming back to me.
“Can I see him?”
A nurse led me to Bryce’s room. He was asleep from the anesthetic and hooked up to monitors, but when I grabbed his hand, he softly squeezed it and spoke my name.
I added in a low voice, “We’ll get through this.” “We’ll do what it takes.”
But reality hit harder than love ever could.
Bryce had a full leg cast and needed help with everything. He couldn’t shower, drink, or get dressed. My days were full of brief lunch breaks and long nights without sleep spent checking on him.
Have you ever been so weary that your body hurts? That was me every day for weeks.
I felt like I was running an endless race as I helped Bryce to the restroom, put his leg on pillows, and did the “bed-to-chair shuffle” as the therapist told me to.
“I can’t just lie here and do nothing while you wear yourself out,” he said one night, his eyes flashing with what I thought was rage.
He begged me the next day. “Please hire someone.” I can’t be alone all day like this. Then he said, with a frightened look on his face, “Or maybe Mom could stay?” I don’t want people I don’t know; I want family.
Bryce kept telling me to get in touch with Myrna, so I did. I didn’t want her to move in with me.
I almost dropped the phone when she informed me her “caregiving rate.”
“Two hundred a day?” I said. “Myrna, that’s more than I make.” That’s more than what nurses who have been trained charge.
“You get what you pay for,” she remarked. “Bryce needs the best care.”
Myrna and I agreed on that, so I hired Nora instead. She was qualified and only asked for half of what Myrna wanted.
Nora would show there just on time every day at 8 a.m. She would give Bryce his medicine, make sure he did his therapy exercises, and even get him to watch daytime TV without grumbling.
I told my friend Veda over coffee, “She’s great.” Friendly but professional. It looks like Bryce likes her.
For weeks, everything looked to be going well.
When I got home, Bryce would be in bed, softly complaining about his “tough day,” and Nora would calmly give me her lengthy updates before going to bed for the night.
Nora would say, “Today was hard in therapy.” “But he’s moving on. “Slow and steady.”
Bryce might nod a little while lying in bed. “Nora has been great, but this hurts.”
But stability can be a trick. The ground may move before you see the cracks.
Nora stood by the door on a Thursday in late October and fidgeted with her hands like a kid who was about to admit to destroying something.
She said, “Can we talk?” and turned to look at the bedroom. “I can’t stay quiet any longer. It’s about Bryce.
My heart started to race.
I went out onto the porch and shut the door. “Tell me,” I replied.
Nora had trouble swallowing. “I had just left for lunch, but I came back because I forgot my charger.” She paused and clutched herself. ” Bryce was walking. Not the careful, planned steps that come with treatment or using crutches. He was acting like everything was fine.
“But that’s great, right?”
Nora shook her head. “When he saw me, he fell onto the bed and groaned like he couldn’t take it anymore.” He immediately went back to “helpless mode.”
Nora’s comments were like cold water, but she wasn’t done.
She stated, “I acted like I didn’t see.” “I helped him get back into bed, got my charger, and then… I halted in the hallway. It was strange to see him walk like that. He probably thought I was gone. I heard him talking to his folks on the phone.
“What did they say?”
Nora let out a sigh. “First, he boasted about how he tricked me when I almost caught him, but then I heard him tell her that everything is going great and that he feels terrific. He said he could live off of you without doing anything for as long as he wanted.
It was hard for my intellect to fathom the betrayal.
My dear and loving husband Bryce seemed hurt. Was he the man I had been trying so hard to help?
“Are you sure?” I whispered it softly.
Nora nodded, and her eyes were watery. “I’m very sorry. I didn’t know what to do.
The next morning, I told Nora to keep it to herself and go to work like she always did. What else can I do? I needed time to think and come up with a plan.
I kissed Bryce’s forehead that night like nothing was wrong, even though I was hiding the truth in my heart like a bomb.
He winced and mumbled about fake pain, not understanding that I was already planning to tell on him.
That night, I stayed awake and listened to Bryce breathe softly next to me while I stared at the ceiling. How long had he been lying to me?
The next morning, I left for work, but I came back when Nora texted me to say she was going out for lunch. I parked two blocks away and walked gently to our house.
I could see him standing up straight through the kitchen window, holding a phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He didn’t have any crutches.
I got closer. I could hear him clearly through the open window.
Bryce said, “It’s like a free ride, Mom,” and I could hear Myrna laughing on the phone. “She’s in charge of everything, even the nurse.” “I won’t do anything until at least Christmas!” If I play my cards right, it might last longer.
Myrna remarked, “You’ve always been the smart one.”
My phone camera caught every step of his scam.
On the way back to my car, I called a lawyer and a locksmith. It’s funny how easy it is to end a marriage if you really want to.
The lawyer said, “This is fraud in marriage.” “That video will make sure he doesn’t get anything else.”
That night when I got home, Bryce was in bed with his face curled up like it always is when he’s in pain.
He looked at me with the same type of eyes that had won me over at that party years ago.
“How was your day, honey?” he inquired. “Mine was hard.” The agony was awful.
I stood at the foot of our bed and gazed at the person I had married.
“I know it all.” I gave her the papers to get a divorce. “You can go by yourself.”
His face went pale, as if someone had drained it. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then tried again.
He muttered, “You got it all wrong.” “I was just—”
“Faking it and telling your mom how you tricked me.” Bryce said, “I know everything,” as I said before. I shook out the trash bag I had brought from the kitchen and began placing his clothes in it. “Now, I think you should call Mommy to come get you before I call the police to get you out.”
He took over the extra room that Myrna had. For weeks, he called and texted me, asking for another chance.
I didn’t pay any attention to them.
Instead of being a nurse, Nora lived with me as a tenant. Her rent helped pay for the legal fees, which was a small bright spot in the chaos Bryce left behind.
She was a great roommate, much better company than my cheating spouse ever was.