My Husband Of 8 Years Admitted I Was Just The “Consolation Prize.” He Only Married Me To Stay Close To My Beautiful Younger Sister. How Do I Ever Trust My Life Again?
The Christmas Party Confession
My husband told me he married me because he couldn’t marry my sister. He said it at his company Christmas party, drunk on whiskey and years of pretending.
We were standing by the bar when his colleague Brett mentioned how lucky he was to have such a beautiful wife.
“Yeah, well, you should see her sister,” my husband Dylan said, swaying slightly. “Now that’s the real prize. This one’s just the consolation.”
Brett laughed nervously. I stood there holding my cocktail, feeling my whole world tilt.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
Dylan turned to me like he’d forgotten I was there. “Nothing, baby. Just guy talk.”
But Brett was already backing away, mumbling about finding his wife.
“You said I’m a consolation prize.”
“You’re being sensitive.”
“You said you wished you’d married Luna.”
He shrugged, actually shrugged. “Can’t marry your wife’s sister. That’s not how it works. So you married me instead.”
“Someone had to marry you first.” He said it like it was obvious, like it was a plan.
The Drive Home
Eight years. Eight years of marriage and he was telling me I was the pathway to my younger sister.
“We need to leave,” I said.
“Party’s just getting started.”
“We’re leaving now.”
In the car, he tried to backtrack. “I didn’t mean it how it sounded.”
“How did you mean it?”
“Luna’s gorgeous. Everyone knows it. You know it. But I chose you because you couldn’t choose her.”
“That’s not… Look, when I met you both that summer at your parents’ place, Luna was 18. You were 23. It made more sense.”
“What made more sense?”
He sighed like I was being difficult. “Dating you. She was too young. Your parents would have freaked out. But you were perfect. Same family, same genetics, just more appropriate.”
“Same genetics?” Like I was a placeholder with the right DNA. “Did you ever love me?” I asked.
“Of course I love you. You’re my wife.”
“That’s not an answer. What do you want me to say?”
“That I never noticed how beautiful your sister is? That I never wondered ‘what if’? Everyone wonders.”
“Not about their wife’s sister. Not for eight years.”
