My Son Betrayed Me For His Dad's Mistress

For the better part of a decade, Jake and I were trapped in this exhausting, toxic dance. He'd parade his feelings for his high school sweetheart, Sarah, right in front of me, while I stubbornly clung to my title as his wife—if only to spite him.

Then our fifteen-year-old whiz-kid son, Alex, goes and invents a real, working time machine. And he's the one begging me to use it, to let his dad and Sarah be together.

"Mom," he pleaded, his eyes earnest, "just let Dad be happy. Sarah deserves him."

I ruffled his hair. "Are you absolutely sure about this, honey? If we change the past, you might not even be born."

"Sarah's worth it," he insisted, without a hint of doubt.

Well, if that's what he truly wanted, who was I to stand in his way?

Jake just scoffed when he heard the plan. "Don't come crawling back to me when you regret this, Karen."

I wouldn't. I knew I wouldn't.

Because the whole reason I'd married Jake in the first place… was to save my original husband and son.

So there we were. Alex was practically vibrating with anticipation as I picked up the phone and dialed Jake's number.

A woman answered. "Jake's in the shower. Can I take a message?"

I knew that voice. It was Sarah. "Just tell him it's about the divorce papers. The sooner he signs, the better. Then you can finally be Mrs. Harrison."

Sarah started sniffling on the other end. "Karen, I never meant for any of this to happen…"

"Save the waterworks, Sarah. If Jake isn't here in twenty minutes, I might just change my mind."

It worked like a charm. I heard slamming doors echo from downstairs, and moments later, Jake was standing in front of me, hair dripping wet and fury in his eyes.

"What the hell did you say to Sarah? She was practically hysterical!"

I just gave him a cold smirk. "That's my girl. Maybe next time I'll just slap her, see if she can cry herself back to life."

"You're impossible." He turned to storm out.

"Jake," I called after him, my voice steady. "I'm letting you go."

He froze mid-step, then slowly turned to face me.

His cold eyes scanned me up and down, finally landing on my face with a dismissive smirk. "Karen, are you on something? What is this?"

"Alex built a time machine. We're going back fifteen years, to before we ever met."

Alex chimed in, eager as a puppy. "Yeah, Dad! I'll set the date right before your wedding to Mom! Then you can finally marry Sarah!"

Jake's frown deepened as he stared at me. "What about your son? Don't you want him anymore?"

I was the one who had practically raised Alex. Jake was never half the parent I was.

I remembered when Alex was little, how he'd get sick so often, coughing so hard it sounded like his lungs would give out. I'd call in sick to work myself, cradling him all night, soothing him until he finally fell into a fitful sleep.

He had a sensitive stomach, so I was always careful, rarely letting him have junk food. I made him homemade, healthy meals from scratch.