When Fate Gets It Wrong
After finishing teacher training college, Marianne returned to her hometown, a little village in the English countryside, to teach at the very school shed once attended. She loved her colleagues, loved the quiet village life, and had missed her parents and childhood home terribly while she was away.
Since childhood, Marianne had been best friends with Julie, the girl next doortotal opposites in every way. Marianne was calm and thoughtful, while Julie was wild, sharp-tongued, and never cared much for respect, especially toward elders. Theyd been in the same class, and Julie was always being scolded with, “Why cant you be more like Marianne?”
“Who needs Marianne? Ive got my own head on my shoulders,” Julie would snap back.
“A heads no good without a brain in it,” the headmaster, Mr. Thompson, once told her in Year 11 after another incident landed her in his office.
“Whats it this time?” he sighed.
Their form tutor, Mrs. Clarkea stern, well-respected womannearly burst into tears. “Julie told me I smell like a grave and should retire already, yet here I am trying to teach her manners!”
Mr. Thompson was speechless, but Julie just batted her eyelashes and said, “I never said that. Shes making it up.” He let her gowhat else could he do?
Marianne went on to university, while Julie barely scraped into nursing college. She wasnt exactly passionate about itjust went where her grades would take her. Shed coasted through school copying Mariannes work, after all.
Julie was stunninglong dark hair, a perfect figurebut she had a nasty streak, especially toward elderly patients at the hospital where she worked. “These old codgers should be six feet under by now, not clogging up the wards,” shed sneer, leaving even her coworkers shocked.
“Whyd you even become a nurse if you hate it so much?” theyd ask.
“None of your business. I went where I could get in.”
Complaints piled up, and finally, the head of the department overheard Julie reducing an old lady to tears. He fired her on the spot. “Youre done here. If you cant show basic decency, you dont belong in medicineand Ill make sure everyone knows it.”
Julie drifted from job to job, hunting for a rich husband, but her sharp tongue and selfishness always sent men running. After three years of dead ends, she slunk back to the village and called Marianne out of the blue.
“Hey, Marianne! Fancy a catch-up? Im moving back home. Your mum works at the clinic, right? Put in a good word for me?”
The moment she arrived, Julie barged into Mariannes house. “So, hows teaching those little brats? And those stuffy teachersbet theyre still insufferable.”
Marianne ignored the jab, pouring tea instead. “Later. First, tell me why youre back. Last I heard, you couldnt wait to leave this place.”
Julie shrugged. “Changed my mind. So, what about you? Not thinking of tying the knot, are you?”
“Actually, yes,” Marianne said calmly. “Tom proposed. Were getting married in two months.”
Julie smirked. “Oh? Whos the lucky man? Some boring geography teacher? Or one of the local farmhands? Not exactly a prize pool around here.”
Marianne smiled. “Toms a farmerowns land, livestock, machinery. Pays his workers well, too.”
Julie burst out laughing. “Oh, please! The only decent bloke in the village, and hes yours? Bet theres something wrong with him.” Shed always thought Marianne was plump next to her own perfect figure, though Mariannes soft curves only made her look sweeter.
Just then, a deep voice called from the door. “Evening, love. Whos this?”
Julie froze. There stood Tomtall, handsome, in designer joggers and trainers. Her stomach twisted with envy. *This* was Mariannes fiancé? No way.
“Im Julie,” she purred, switching to her sweetest act. “You must be Tom. Mariannes told me *so* much about you.”
Tom just smiled at Marianne. “Dont oversell me, love.”
They chatted, but Julie barely listened. All she could think was: *He should be mine.*
“Mum,” Julie hissed the second she got home, “why didnt you tell me theres a guy like Tom here? He should be with *me*, not that plain Jane!”
Her mother grinned. “Oh, darling, of course you deserve him. Well just have to make sure he sees it tooquickly, before that wedding.”
The perfect chance came at their old classmate Lucys birthday party. Marianne woke up feeling ill, so Tom went alone with their gift.
Julie pounced the second he walked in. “What luckjust us!” She glued herself to his side, plying him with drinks she kept topping up. By the time Tom realized he was dizzy, it was too late.
“Let me take you home,” Julie cooed, steering him toward a friends car. “My place is closest.”
Shed sent her mum away for the nightthis was all part of the plan.
The next morning, Tom woke with a pounding headacheand horror. Julie lay beside him, smirking.
“No. *No.* Tell me nothing happened.”
“Oh, but it *did*,” Julie said smugly.
Tom fled. At Mariannes house, her mum blocked the door. “How *could* you? Youve broken her heart. And sending those photosdisgusting!”
“What photos?” Tom checked his phonethere they were, tangled in bed. Julie had staged it while he was passed out.
Furious, he hurled his phone against the wall.
Tom avoided Julie, but she cornered him. “Hate me all you want, but our babys innocent.”
“*What* baby?”
“That night wasnt just a fling, Tom. Im pregnant.”
He married herno wedding, just a cold registry office ceremonybut their house was a silent battleground.
Then Julie panicked. There *was* no baby. She begged Lucy, a nurse, to fake a miscarriage.
Too lateTom had heard everything. He filed for divorce.
Later, Lucy took pity. “Tom did you know Marianne had a son?”
His heart stopped. “*My* son?”
“Shes at her grans in the next village. Go.”
Tom drove straight there. And there she wasMarianne, hanging laundry in the yard. A pram sat nearby. Inside, a blue-eyed baby blinked up at him.
“Whats his name?” Tom whispered.
“Anthony,” Marianne breathed.
Tom knelt. “Forgive me. Ill never fail you again.”
She did forgive him. In time, they had two more childrenand *this* time, fate got it right.
