SUMMARY: Jack’s wife finds out about him having a mistress.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I once got an anon asking for a fic like that and tbh I’ve been planning it anyway, so here we go. Reader is a drama queen so much but I also have this headcanon (which is only my headcanon) that Jack’s simply addicted to sex and he can’t help himself sometimes, which was of course not treated back then as it is now. Anyway, at the end of the fic he’s got his dramatic speech, too Gotta love the Nelsons
WARNING: English is my second language.
WORD COUNT:2,660
NUMBER ONE GIRL
Jack entered the bedroom without knocking and began to undress himself, throwing his tie on the bed and kicking his shoes off of his feet. You sighed and continued applying the perfumed lotion on your body while sitting by the dressing table.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as his long fingers worked on the buttons of his shirt.
“Nothing,” you drawled out and started to brush your hair roughly with all the force but the pain it was causing you was surprisingly good…or at least distracting from the agony inside after hearing so much new gossip about your husband earlier that day.
Jack blinked a few times and moved the tie out of the bed to put it on the chair. He genuinely thought that his messiness had been the reason for your behavior. Then he leaned in with a sigh and put his shoes under the bed neatly.
“You’re not gonna ask me how my day was?” he looked at you, concerned.
“Same as always,” you shrugged your arms and he approached you but when he placed his hands on your shoulders, you flinched.
“(Y/N), what happened?”
“I’m not in the mood.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Jack chuckled. “I’m not in the mood either. Too tired,” he added and went back to undressing himself.
“Since when you’re not in the mood?” you snorted and turned around to lay your suspicious eyes on him. “You’re always in the mood, no matter how many whores you fuck on that day.”
“It’s about the whores again, is it?” Jack rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Just about one.”
“Who?”
“The whore’s name is Jack Nelson,” you crossed your arms, too angry to control yourself.
“Watch your mouth,” Jack pointed his finger at you like you were a disobedient child. “That is no way to address your husband.”
You wanted to tell him many things. You wanted to tell him that he has no right to call himself your husband and that he’s nothing but a dirty cheater breaking the rules you two had made a long time ago. But then your plan for the following day would be ruined.
Therefore, you only shrugged your arms and stood up to take off your silky dressing gown and lay down next to him in bed.
“What was that about? That time of the month?” he asked casually.
“Yeah,” you lied and he shook his head while chuckling.
Jack turned the light off and caressed your perfumed body under the nightgown. You let him do that but you were staring at the ceiling and you weren’t kissing him back.
“When I’ll be in San Francisco, I’ll buy you something pretty,” he promised before falling asleep with his arm around you.
You smirked.
On the following day Jack left for San Francisco for a few days on business. You fired all the maids, packed yourself and the kids to leave Boston. On the kitchen counter you left your husband a note.
Dear Jack,
I know you’re confused and furious while reading this. I’m sorry. It was never my intention to cause you harm. You know that it was the opposite – I was the one taking care of you, being obedient, following your orders, looking the other way while you were killing people and fucking other women. I held my head up high and I loved you. I loved you. I still love you, Jack. That’s the worst, believe me. I wish I didn’t.
I know you will never give me a divorce but it’s not something I want either. I haven’t run off to another man nor with an intention to get one.
I know about a woman named Laura O’Hara. I know that you pay for her apartment at the Grand Hotel and that you visit her a few times a week. That you take her to the clubs and buy her pretty things. This was not a part of our agreement. When we were getting married, I told you that I can survive you seeing whores because one woman can’t possibly satisfy your needs. I made it clear back then that having regular mistresses was something I didn’t agree on and you promised. You made a promise only to break it. By doing that you made a choice and that choice was not me nor your family but Laura O’Hara.
With all of my love and devotion I still hold for you,
(Y/N)”
After three weeks spent in Wisconsin with your children, you started to run out of money and to be completely honest – you regretted your decision to disappear like that. But you couldn’t help being a drama queen and that was something Jack actually liked about you. He had been always saying that you were never a bore.
Wisconsin wasn’t a planned decision. The train there was leaving as the first one at the railway station so you bought the tickets. It was extremely far away from Boston and you haven’t told anyone about your whereabouts, not even your mother. It was making you feel guilty but you knew that Jack would interrogate her first.
Three weeks later, though, he still hadn’t found you. Perhaps he hadn’t even been looking…?
Either way, you were running out of money so you started to make purchases while using Jack’s checkbook that you had taken with yourself. It wasn’t like you couldn’t get a job but… honestly, why would you? The fact that you didn’t have a maid nor a nanny was dreadful enough.
Your children were slowly starting to ask when will they see their daddy again and you were missing Jack, too, but your pride would never let you go back home, especially when you suspected he had already invited Laura O’Hara to your house and your bedroom.
It was a boring evening after you put your kids in their beds and told them goodnight stories. Now you were sipping on your herbal tea and reading fashion magazines full of clothes you would probably never be able to purchase again.
When someone knocked upon the door, you furrowed your brow. You weren’t sure if you had heard that right but it was late and you didn’t have any friends in that town. Also, a normal person would ring the bell but they didn’t and you were grateful since it would wake up the children.
The knocking sound was heard again and you decided to check on the source before the person would start ringing the bell. You grabbed a gun you had stolen from Jack and went to the hall to open the door carefully.
You froze at first at the sight of a tall, handsome man wearing a long, black coat and an elegant hat. He had a contemptuous smirk on his lips and his eyes sparkled mischievously in the dim light of the outside lights.
It was your husband.
You pointed your gun at him as your eyes widened. Your knuckles went white from clutching on the revolver but Jack only chuckled and grabbed the gun just like that, using only one of his hands. Then he stepped inside.
“Pointing my own gun at me?” he teased and closed the door quite loudly, making you flinch. Then he pointed the gun back at you and tilted your trembling chin with it. You swallowed thickly as he pressed you to the wall. “Wis-fucking-consin? Are you fucking kidding me, (Y/N)? They weren’t selling tickets to Alaska?” he sneered at your choice of a place. “But even in Alaska I would find you, pussycat, you know? I have to admit I almost gave up looking for you on my own and wanted to engage my political friends but then… Then you did what stupid dolls always do. You made a foolish mistake and you started using my checkbook,” he laughed at you.
“It was not a mistake,” you whispered, trying to sound calm but it was all for nothing since you were trembling. Jack raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I wanted you to find me.”
“This time you crossed the line, doll,” Jack pulled the trigger and you closed your eyes as a few tears escaped. You knew it wouldn’t kill you but after hearing a loud click sound you sighed out of relief. “It wasn’t even loaded,” he added. “I knew it wasn’t, I could feel how light it was. What if it was some intruder and not me, pussycat? What would you do then with an empty gun?”
“The only intruder is you, Jack,” you said.
“Oh, is it?” He took a step back and hid the gun inside the pocket of his coat before taking off his hat and looking around your house. “What a fucking shit hole. You think you can provide for my children here? To give them the same opportunities in life as I would in Boston?”
“They are our children. I pushed them out of me, Jack. You weren’t even there. Coward,” you gritted through your teeth and he froze before slowly turning around and laying his cold eyes on you.
“I was always with you, just in another room. I don’t interfere with women’s business,” he gave you a nonchalant excuse. “You got any whiskey here, pussycat?” He entered the living room.
“I don’t keep alcohol in this house,” you crossed your arms and followed him. He looked down at the table and snorted at the sight of an opened fashion magazine. Then he looked up at you, in your simple dress and hair ruffled after a whole day and something in his eyes softened. “I want you to leave, Jack,” you added, your voice already breaking. His face got serious again.
“I’m here, I found you. No need to play that game anymore, (Y/N),” he reminded you. “And if I were you, I’d start apologizing already ‘cause I wouldn’t want to be in your skin. You took my children from me and ran off to fucking Wisconsin,” he clenched his jaw.
“You know why I did that.”
“You should have talked to me about it,” he threw his hat and coat on the sofa.
“I couldn’t,” you admitted and looked down. “I… I wanted to but it… It hurt too much, Jack. I didn’t want to hear your lies, I couldn’t stand you lying next to me when you had been with her…”
“I wouldn’t lie to you, doll. I’d tell you the truth,” Jack spread his hands and smiled to himself after sitting down comfortably in the armchair.
“The truth?” you sniffled back your tears and laid your eyes on him. “That you love her? That she’s younger than me, never gave birth to a child, she’s more beautiful, she’s fashionable, you can take her to the clubs and introduce her to your business partners and she’s a charmer? That all the pretty things you buy for her look better on her body than on mine? That she’s not a moody bitch like me, she’s just grateful when you visit her? That she’s easier to handle? That she fucks better?” you looked away and a short silence occurred.
“I cut her off the same day I found out you were gone. That’s how much she meant to me,” Jack stated firmly after a while. “No whore is worth losing my family.”
“Should have thought of that earlier!” you snorted. “Also, I don’t care that you cut her off. There will be another. And I don’t get it, Jack. I fucking don’t get it because I’ve already given you so much freedom, everything I had. You think your one night stands don’t hurt me? They do, too but it’s bearable. This, though… This felt like a bullet straight through my heart,” you confessed and bit on your lower lip. “How can you spend your money on some bitch when you have a wife and children at home? How can you waste your money on some stranger?!”
“Laura was a one night stand but it got out of control at some point. She was in trouble, I offered her a few more meetings so I would pay her more, I pitied her. That was the only feeling I’ve ever had for her. Pity,” Jack cleared his throat. “Then she convinced me that having one mistress is actually better than having whores for one night.”
“Funny,” you crossed your arms.
“Because, as she said, the chances of getting a clap is smaller,” he finished.
“Jesus, that’s your excuse? Oh my God, I’m so grateful, Jack,” you ironized. “Thank you so much for caring about not bringing me any clap home! The best husband ever award goes to Mr. Jack Nelson of Boston,” you drawled out and sat down on the sofa to hide your face in your hands.
After a short while you felt him sitting next to you and putting his arm around you. You wanted to be strong enough to push him away but in fact you were grateful to finally feel his warmth.
“I love you and I want you to come back home,” he whispered and caressed your hair gently. “Not because I’m possessive or angry or that I care so much about my reputation because, honestly, fuck my reputation. I just want my babies and my wife home, you hear me? When I couldn’t find you for such a long time, I got scared, I got scared for real, that this time I won’t ever get you back,” he kept on talking. “When the bank contacted me about the odd purchases in Wisconsin, I felt so relieved. God, (Y/N), I missed you, baby,” he held your hands to take them away from your face, all wet from the silent tears. “Look at you, aw, look at you,” he raised your chin up and you furrowed your brows. “So pretty,” he added and you snorted. “No, I mean it, I mean it, baby. You know that I do,” he leaned in to kiss your salty cheeks. “You’re my number one girl, you know that you are. I’m sorry I hurt you, I wish I wasn’t… I wish I wasn’t like that but sometimes it’s… Sometimes it’s stronger than me. You have no idea how many days I promised myself in the morning that I would never again touch any whore but five minutes after entering the office I just… I just get this urge and… I don’t know, I don’t want to burden you with that but all my friends are jealous of me but in fact I hate it about me, I hate it so much because it keeps hurting you and I wish the most I could change that about me,” his voice broke and you furrowed your brow.
For the first time of all the years of your relationship Jack had confessed this to you.
“Mommy?” a childish voice made you both turn around to see your three children standing at the doorway, staring at you with widened eyes and holding on their blankets. “Daddy?!” their eyes sparkled at the sight of Jack. They all ran up to him and he smiled widely to hug them. You quickly wiped your tears off with the palm of your hand.
“What is daddy doing here?” your son asked.
“Daddy came here to take us back home,” you sniffled for the last time and caressed his hair. “Holidays are over.”
“Gee, finally!” your older daughter rolled her eyes. “I hated it here, daddy, you have no idea!”
You squeezed Jack’s hand and it was your silent agreement. You loved him too much not to forgive him, especially after such a confession. Every man had his weaknesses and it would be selfish to keep a man like him only to yourself. He was born to conquer the world. Who were you to lock him at home?
“Next time we’ll go to San Francisco together,” Jack promised your daughter. “I’m sure you’re gonna love it.”
I don’t like putting my 2 cents under other people’s posts but this was one of the scenes why I actually like Linda so much. I loved her answers and how she dealth with Polly and Lizzie although she was alone against them two and everybody knows Polly and Lizzie are both tough to win with; especially united.
I never understood why Polly was mean to Linda in this scene when we see her praying at the church for 2 fucking seasons. And now she suddenly makes fun of Linda’s beliefs? Just like she’s suddenly besties with Lizzie after all the stuff she said about her in season 1…?
And what is exactly Lizzie’s business in being mean towards Linda? She wasn’t a Shelby back then, she had no right to treat one of her bosses’ wife like that but she just joined Polly’s mockery like a mean girl’s sidekick.
i really wish we could’ve seen more of her in season 6
