Betrayal

Chapter 1

There would be no Christmas reunion this year.

A single tear traced its way down my cheek despite my best efforts to hide my sadness. Tiffany and I had been best friends for twenty one years. Literally since we mastered the art of walking. Pretending to survey the hospital room gave me the chance to blink away my show of love. "Beth," she said, her face twisting in discomfort as she squeezed my hand.

"Don't talk, Tiff. Just rest."

"This is important Froggy. It concerns Anthony."

I buried my face in my other hand, realizing it may be the last time her nickname for me would come from her lips. Dr Benning told me she had been hanging on for my visit. That's all she talked about through her pain, he said, before I entered her room. He must surely be used to death by now. I envied him that trait right now, but knew it was well out of reach.

"You never really liked Anthony, Tiff, I know that, but we have set a date for our wedding. I just wish we could have done it before..." I ached to squeeze her hand back but knew I daren't.

The hint of a sad smile touched her pale lips. "He's not the one for you, Beth, believe me, he's not."

My silence offered no confirmation.

"He doesn't love you the way you need to be loved," she continued. "You need a man that puts your happiness before his own. Anthony's an imposter. You need to know that."

My shoulders shook as this truth settled home.

"We've no time for this, Beth. Promise me you will not go through with this wed--"

"How can I? The date has been set. People contacted. Arrangements made."

"This will be the most important decision in your life. Years of happiness or misery depend on it. Don't do it Froggy, please, I'm begging you."

"I don't want to talk about me, Tiff. I want to talk about us" My head lay cradled in the crook of my elbow. "Let's talk about us, and the good times we had. Remember when you chased me across the park because you thought I had run off with the Christmas card that toothy Herbert had given you? Or the time we fell into that stagnant pool in Saline forest and had to get a shot in our backsides? Your mom was especially mad about that. Thought I was a bad influence, she did. No doubt you agree with her." I glanced up, searching for that secret smile I had come to love. No such evidence graced her lips. She refused to buy into my change of subject, that much was obvious.

"You don't know him like I do, Tiff."

"I wish that were true, Beth."

Something in Tiffany's voice made me pay closer attention. "Tiffany, Anthony is the one man I know who wouldn't cheat on me. He wants to marry me more than anything else in the world."

"Oh, Beth," whispered Tiffany, her eyes screwed shut, "Anthony did cheat on you. He's done nothing but cheat on you for the last two and a half years."

I was stunned into silence. Tiffany sounded so convincing. It was one thing to dislike a person, but quite another to manufacture such scenarios. "Tiff," I said, quietly but firmly, "if you don't have concrete proof, please don't go down that road. Is it too hard to just give us your blessing?"

"Do you want to know who the other woman was?"

Different emotions coursed through my body. Fear that Tiffany might be telling the truth was leading the race. "Tiffy, you should be resting just now. You're upsetting both of us. I trust Anthony. Please don't let any hearsay spoil my relationship with him."

"I was the other woman, Beth. That's how I know he's no good for you."

My breath stuck in my throat. I started blinking and couldn't seem to stop. "There must be some mistake," I said. "You're my very best friend, we tell each other everything, we always have."

Tiffany's eyes were closed, but her tears found their way past her cheeks and her ears before finding comfort in the soft pillow that supported her head.

"How could this be, Tiffany?" My deepest secrets were for your ears only. You were the first to know when I found out that I couldn't conceive, for goodness sake."

My friend since childhood turned her head away. "I had Anthony's child," she squeaked through her tears.

A rushing noise filled my ears and invaded every crevice of my brain.

"That's not true. Say that's not true."

"I moved to Seattle for one year, had the baby, and the two of us agreed to put it up for adoption."

I drew in lungfulls of air, making myself dizzy in the process. "You had the child I could not... with my Anthony?" My face was buried in my hands, the hot tears finding no escape through my fingers.

"I told you I moved there after getting a job offer. It was a lie. I didn't come back because the job fell through, I came back after I had the baby, and its adoption arranged."

"That would make the child about two," I said, my breath coming in shallow pants.

"Yes, he's two," Tiffany agreed, her voice reduced to a whisper. "His name is Alfred."

"That was my father's name," I cried out, my voice shaking as hard as my body. "Is there no end to your mockery of our friendship?" I jumped to my feet and rushed toward the door.

"Please Beth," moaned Tiffany, "let me apologize to you properly. I doubt I will get another chance."

"I won't attend your funeral," I all but shouted. "I won't mourn for you. You have killed me inside Tiffany. I have to carry your confession with me to my grave, do you understand? My grave Tiffany."

"Please don't leave, Beth. Forgive me if you can, please, I beg of you."

I closed the door behind me. I remembered neither the walk to my car, nor the long drive home. I was numb. By the following morning, I was cried out. My stomach muscles ached. My eyes felt like someone had thrown pepper into them. What had started as a minor headache was now a full blown migraine.

I did go to the funeral though. It was obvious her parents and younger sister knew nothing of her betrayal or her adopted child. I tried my best to make all the right noises and pretend to listen to their attempt at pleasant conversation. The service felt entirely fake. A Pastor who never knew her rambled on about her selflessness and other good qualities. Tiffany's sister Anabel sat next to me and held my hand. She had tagged along with Tiffany and I a couple of times, and seemed nice, if a bit withdrawn. After the service, she had pressed her phone number into my palm and asked me to call her sometime. I said I would, but the truth was, I had no intention of doing so.