"You're insane! My husband comes to every parent meeting. Everyone here knows him. How could he possibly be your husband?"
A parent from the class stepped in to back her up.
"She's right. That boy is in our class. His dad is wonderful. He shows up for every family day to spend time with his son."
The crowd erupted. Fingers pointed. Voices sharpened into blades, all aimed at me.
As if I really were something shameless. Something low.
"His father doesn't want you. Why are you still clinging to him?"
"Disgusting. She's a complete psycho!"
"Look at her. A washed-up nobody trying to steal someone else's man!"
Aileen's son charged at me and kicked me hard in the shin. I nearly fell.
"Get away from my daddy, you evil woman!"
I stood in the center of it all, surrounded, every finger pointed at my face, every mouth spitting venom.
"She's the mistress!" I blurted out. "That boy is illegitimate!"
The words tumbled out in a desperate rush.
No one listened.
My heart went cold. All the way through.
Maybe this was how the world worked. The shameless survived. The shameless thrived.
I was the real wife. The innocent one.
And somehow I'd become the villain in everyone's eyes.
Then Jayden came running over.