Marital Bitch by JC Emery

s’posed to marry me, not Aunt Colleen!” He grins and gives her a big hug.
    “Hold up now, kid,” Brad says in a mock serious voice. “I heard you’ve been sharing your cookies with another guy. How am I s’posed to feel about that, huh?” Lilly blushes and looks away. I smile at the pair of them. Brad has always been so good with kids and he babysits James and Darla’s kids every chance he gets. He’s going to make an amazing dad one day. You know, to another woman’s children.
    “Have not!” Lilly glares at him.
    “Wanna bet, princess?” he challenges and she folds her arms over her chest. “You know I’m friends with your teacher, Miss Kate? She says you’ve been making googly eyes at a Jeffrey Spaniel. ‘Said you even shared your cookies with the guy.”
    “How’d you find out?” she asks giving Brad the stink eye.
    “I’m a detective , sweetheart. You don’t think I’m gonna know when my favorite girl is off sharing her cookies with some strange kid?”
    “Well, you married Aunt Colleen!” Lilly retorts but Brad isn’t letting it go. The man takes his cookies seriously and at least in five year old Lilly he’s found someone to argue with.
    “Well, you’re sharing your cookies with a kid who’s named after a dog!” Brad smirks at Lilly as she opens and closes her mouth several times before responding.
    “I want cookies,” she says and he agrees that he wants cookies, too. They walk off in search of the dessert table. I know it’s around here somewhere. Grammy says she doesn’t show up unless there’s a dessert table. Darla shakes her head and laughs.
    “He’s going to be a great father,” Darla says. I nod my head and look for a distraction. I can’t wait to get my hands on my little buddy, even if he is sleeping away in James’s arms. James notices that I’m fixed on the sleeping boy and he hands him over to me which effectively ends his slumber. Alex’s blue eyes pop open and he squirms in my arms.
    “Hey, Monkey,” I say, adjusting him to a more comfor table position on my hip. For being just barely two, he sure is stocky. With James as his dad, it’s no wonder.
    “Aunti e,” he says, laying his head on my chest. I smile down at him and kiss him atop his head.
    “So, how long do you think you can keep this up for?” James asks. I shrug.
    “I don’t have the heart to tell everyone it’s not real, especially Grammy,” I say, mindful of who might be near.
    “Yeah, okay,” James says, “but what if she lives for another five or ten, hell—fifteen years? You just gonna pretend to be married to Brad? That’s pretty fucked up, sis.” My eyebrows knit together and I consider James’s point. The honest answer is that I just don’t know. I’m taking it day by day and minute by minute here. This whole thing spiraled out of control because my friends couldn’t leave well enough alone. They had to butt in and broadcast the one evening of my life that I’d rather keep quiet, all over the internet.
    “Don’t even go there, James,” I walk toward him and lean in. “You stood back and let them tell the world about this. Where was your opinion then?” James is speechless. He has no defense and he knows it. I glare at Darla next. She won’t even look me in the eye. Good.
    “And you,” I whisper-shout while running my hand through Alex’s hair. “You’re treating this like it’s a game. We’re adults, Darla. I have a career to worry about, not that you’d understand my position.” I snap and walk away.
    It was a low blow using my career against her. Darla’s been a stay-at-home mom for years, and a stay-at-home wife before that. I don’t have the right to judge her anymore than she has the right to judge me. But deep in the back of my mind I’ve always judged her. I’ve always wondered why she didn’t want more for herself than to just be a cop’s wife. Even in high school while I talked about going to college, she talked about getting married after