The Day I Lied To My Ex-Husband’s Second Wife

I chose not to tell her the truth about my experience with the man she was going to marry.

As we sat together in the Mexican restaurant that day over margaritas and chips and salsa, the nerves were palpable. I’d spoken with Shelley on a few occasions before, but I was horrifically anxious to sit with her one-on-one; amusingly, in a situation where I perceived her to have all the power, she later told me that she felt intimidated.

To her credit, Shelley insisted on getting to know me before she married my ex-husband. She wanted me to know that while she wanted to be a good stepmother to my two boys, it was very important to her that I rest assured that she would never try to replace me as their mother.

I would find out later that “our husband” had also been a strong proponent of this meeting and, as their marriage went on, of the two of us having a relationship. Ultimately, that backfired. Shelley and I became very close…and I got her in the divorce, which drove him crazy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

That afternoon in the restaurant, my head was swirling. I’d been reeling for days leading up to our meeting. Should I tell her that the man she was about to marry had tortured me verbally throughout our…