Updated Feb 23, 2026 • ~6 min read
POV: Rory
Dominic doesn’t come home until three AM.
I’m still awake. Sitting on the couch. Staring at that obituary on my phone.
“Celeste Marie Ashford, 28, died tragically…”
But if she died, why did the hospital call?
The front door opens.
Dominic looks wrecked. Hair messy. Eyes red. Like he’s been crying.
“Where were you?” I ask.
He jumps. Didn’t see me sitting in the dark.
“Rory. I’m sorry. I should have called—”
“You should have EXPLAINED. Who is Celeste?”
He freezes.
“I can explain—”
“Then explain. Because I found her obituary. It says she was your wife. That she died four years ago. So why did the hospital call to say she’s awake?”
Dominic sits down. Puts his head in his hands.
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it.”
“Celeste was my wife. Before you. We were married for five years when she had a car accident.”
Was. Past tense.
“The accident put her in a coma. The doctors said she’d never wake up. That she was brain dead. They recommended removing life support.”
Oh God.
“You pulled the plug?”
“No. I—I couldn’t. They removed the breathing tube but she kept breathing on her own. Just… existing. In the coma. Unresponsive. For years.”
“How many years?”
“Five. She’s been in that facility for five years.”
Five years.
We’ve been together for three years.
“So you were married to her while you dated me?”
“No. I mean—legally, maybe. But she wasn’t there. Wasn’t conscious. The doctors said she’d never wake up. That she was gone. So I… I moved on.”
“With me.”
“With you.” He looks up. “I fell in love with you. Built a life with you. I thought Celeste was gone forever.”
“But she’s not gone.”
“No. She woke up tonight. After five years. The doctors are calling it a miracle.”
A miracle for him. A nightmare for me.
“So what now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you still married to her?”
Silence.
“Dominic. Are you still married to her?”
“I don’t know. Legally, maybe. I never filed for divorce because she was in a coma. You can’t divorce someone who’s brain dead.”
“But she wasn’t brain dead. She was in a coma. There’s a difference.”
“I know that NOW.”
I stand up. Start pacing.
“So our marriage—”
“Is real. Rory, our marriage is real.”
“But so is hers.”
More silence.
“Oh my God,” I breathe. “I’m the other woman.”
“You’re not—”
“I AM. Technically. If she’s still legally your wife, then I’m the woman you married while already married. That’s bigamy. That’s—”
“Rory, stop. It’s not like that.”
“Then what IS it like? Because from where I’m standing, you have two wives. And I’m the one who didn’t know about it.”
He reaches for me.
I step back.
“Don’t. I can’t—I need to think.”
“Rory, please—”
“Did you know? When you married me. Did you know she was still legally your wife?”
“No. I swear. I thought—everyone thought—she was gone. That she’d never wake up. The lawyers said I could remarry, that it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Well it’s an issue now.”
I grab my keys. My bag.
“Where are you going?”
“To my sister’s. I need space.”
“It’s three in the morning.”
“I don’t care.”
“Rory, please. Don’t leave. We can figure this out.”
“Can we? Because I don’t see how. You have a wife. A real, legal, FIRST wife who just woke up after five years. And me. The woman you married while still married to her.”
“You’re my wife.”
“So is she!”
The words echo in the silence.
Dominic’s face crumples.
“I don’t know what to do,” he admits. “I don’t know how to fix this.”
“Neither do I.”
I walk to the door.
“Rory—”
“I’ll call you tomorrow. When I can think straight. Right now I just… I need to not be here.”
I leave.
Drive to Priya’s apartment across town.
She opens the door in pajamas, sees my face, and immediately pulls me inside.
“What happened?”
I tell her everything.
The phone call. The obituary. Dominic’s confession.
“Wait,” Priya interrupts. “He has a FIRST WIFE?”
“In a coma. For five years. But she woke up tonight.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“And your marriage might not be legal?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.”
Priya makes tea. We sit on her couch.
“What are you going to do?” she asks.
“I have no idea.”
“Do you love him?”
“Of course I love him. But he’s married to someone else.”
“He thought she was dead.”
“But she’s not.”
“So what—you just walk away? Give up your marriage?”
“It might not be a marriage. It might be bigamy.”
“Or it might be a mistake. A legal mistake that can be fixed.”
“How? By divorcing her? She just woke up from a five-year coma. He can’t divorce her NOW. That’s cruel.”
“But keeping you in limbo is also cruel.”
She’s right.
This whole situation is impossible.
Someone’s going to get hurt.
Probably me.
My phone buzzes.
Dominic: “I’m sorry. For all of this. I never meant for this to happen. I love you. Please come home.”
I stare at the message.
Home.
Is it even my home if his first wife is still legally his wife?
Me: “I need time. Don’t call me tonight. I’ll reach out tomorrow.”
Dominic: “Okay. I love you.”
I don’t respond.
“You should sleep,” Priya says.
“I can’t.”
“Try. You need rest.”
She sets me up in her guest room. I lie in the dark, staring at the ceiling.
My husband has another wife.
My marriage might not be real.
Everything I built with Dominic—our home, our plans, our future—it might all be built on a lie.
Not an intentional lie.
But a lie nonetheless.
I close my eyes.
Try to sleep.
But all I can see is that obituary.
“Beloved wife of Dominic Ashford…”
Beloved wife.
If she’s his beloved wife, what am I?
END OF CHAPTER 4
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