Dear Ex-wife Marry Me by Twin Bridge

Shirley had barely stepped off the plane when her phone buzzed with a call from James, informing her that Abner had been assaulted.

She thought she'd misheard. Abner, always so mild-mannered and non-confrontational, getting into a fight?

Rushing to the hospital, she spotted James in the hallway.

"Mr. James."

"Shirley!"

James, visibly shaken and with a trembling voice, blurted out, "He was rushed into the ER last night. He's stable now, just a minor concussion, but he's lost quite a bit of weight. Go see him." Shirley, heart pounding, hurried into Abner's room.

Abner, awake with bandages wrapped around his head and looking pale, barely whispered, "Shirley?"

"Abner!" Shirley's eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"What happened? How did you end up fighting?"

Abner hung his head in silence, but James couldn't hold back and spilled everything about how Abner's background had been exposed.

Shirley was taken aback. The ordeal had been ongoing for two months, with Abner facing isolation at school, yet he hadn't breathed a word of it to her.

"Shirley, don't get mad. It wasn't Abner who sought trouble. It was a few boys from another class who cornered him."

grasped Abner's hand. "Why didn't you tell me

want

an acute pain

he be so

James and I will

intent to get to the

sleeve, reluctant to let

patted his head, careful to avoid

I'll be

a weak smile,

was confronted with a shocking sight on the sports field where the honor roll was usually posted. In bold

get out of our

Shirley trembled with rage.

the school is letting this

massaged his

happened two months ago, a group of parents petitioned to have

done nothing wrong. Why should he

I know how

you

kept up his grades and

and that's why he's been