My whole life I always thought I had it all. I came a prominent family - the perfect family - and I had a deceptively normal upbringing. I honestly thought my life was as good as it was going to get. My parents always pushed me to do better than my best, Leave nothing to chance, Elizabeth, and they made sure I had everything mapped out perfectly for my future. Unfortunately, even though they planned my life down to the letter, just one day could still implode my life in such drastic ways that they could never expect or plan for.
Sadly, today was that day.
It all started much like any other typical winter day just outside New York City. There was fresh snow on the ground and a chill in the air. It was just after the holidays so tourism was down which meant the traffic should be back to a somewhat normal pace. My loving husband, Archie, kissed my cheek and said goodbye as he rushed off to the recording studio where he worked while I loaded my portfolio and laptop bag into my car so that I could make it to the most important job interview I would ever have on time.
You see, today was supposed to be the biggest day of my career to date. After years and years of writing puff pieces and trashy advice columns for crappy online publications, I finally had my shot at my big break: a full-time position to write for The New York Times. This was the chance of a lifetime and all I had ever dreamed of and strove for since I was a little girl growing up in my hometown of Riverdale, NY.
Ever since I was eight years old - when little Archie Andrews proposed to me on the playground for helping tutor him, so he wouldn't be left back a grade - I had this perfect image of how my life would be. It was everything I worked so hard for the last eighteen years of my life.
Archie and I would fall in love and be high school sweethearts, we'd go to the same college and get an apartment together off-campus, we would graduate at the top of our class and then get married Afterwards Archie would get a recording contract while I got a high profile journalist position at one of the biggest publications in the city, and we would live just outside the city with our 2.5 kids and a fluffy sheepdog named Merlin.
And for the most part, I have fulfilled some of those dreams even if they didn't look the way I thought it would the majority of the time.
First off, Archie and I were never high school sweethearts - much to my chagrin. I ended up harboring my crush on Archie without him even taking notice of me. He dated half of the female population at Riverdale High (some at the same time) before he finally started dating Veronica Lodge at the beginning of our sophomore year.
Ronnie and I best friends and even though her relationship with Archie hurt at first, I let go of that crush and buried it deep. They were on-again/off-again for the rest of our high school career and still, Archie never saw me as more than a friend. Well, that was until the summer after our senior year when Veronica dumped him for the final time to be with Reggie Mantle. Archie and I had a whirlwind summer and I truly felt like I was on the right path for the first time in my life. Then on the weekend before we were set to leave for college was when I decided that I wanted him to be my first - my only - and it was a magical experience, even if I wasn't his first. I was so happy back in those days that I didn't truly realize how naive I really was.
Even though we were going to colleges in different states and rarely got to see each other, we managed to stay together and made the most of the time we did have together. We both graduated early and got married before we turned 23 years old. Then we bought a beautiful house just outside the city, in a little suburb that reminded me of the street we grew up on in Riverdale. Sadly, that was as far as we had gotten into my dream life.
We had yet to fill the house with those 2.5 kids yet and it made me sad. I always wanted to be a Mom and to be halfway through my twenties and still not have one was hard most days. Archie expressed to me that he wanted us to be more established in our careers first before we thought about kids. He also seemed very concerned about what a baby would do to my figure and pushed me to stay in peak physical condition so that when we did have kids, I would bounce back to my pre-pregnancy size quicker - a sentiment that he and my mother shared.
Archie was already a very successful studio musician for some of the biggest acts in the city but was looking for his big break into stardom. I had yet to find my stride in my career, so I kind of understood where he was coming from on that aspect. However, I planned that once I ace this interview and land this job, that I would finally talk to him about getting started on having those adorable children I had always dreamed of.
Unfortunately, this is where my wonderful day morphed into something from the deepest pits of hell.
First off, not ten minutes after grabbing my morning coffee at my favorite local coffee shop, my car decided it was time to die. And it didn't want to die in the hustle and bustle of the city; no, no, no. It decided to die in the peaceful, snow banked countryside - nearly 20 miles from town or a mechanic. And - because this is how my luck is - today was the day I had taken my tools out of the trunk to make room for Archie's equipment that I was supposed to drop off at the studio this afternoon.
"No, no, no! Please, not today! Dammit!" I cried in frustration and eased onto the side of the road. I had been on speaker phone listening to the ramblings of my well-meaning, control freak of a mother on how to properly interview for this position if I really wanted to impress them.
"Elizabeth, language!" Alice Cooper shrieked into the phone before lowering her voice and continuing to scold me, "That is not how a proper lady speaks, Elizabeth. Now, what is going on?"
"Sorry," I mumbled, desperately trying to restart my car to no avail. "Mom, my car just cut out on me and I really need to make it to the city, so I need to go. I need to try to catch Arch before he gets all the way to the studio and let him know what happened. I'll call you after I get this sorted out, I love you. Bye, Mom."
Before she could even reply, I hung up on her and pulled up my insurance app. I was lucky enough to have roadside assistance and managed to get a tow truck dispatched within five minutes. However, they said it would take 45 minutes for it to arrive but told me that if I needed to be somewhere, they could pick it up and I wouldn't need to wait.
I called my potential boss to let them know I would be late for my interview, and they told me not to worry about coming in at this time. Apparently, there had been a fire in the company break room that morning and everyone on that floor scheduled to work from home for the next two weeks pending an investigation and repairs to the building.
After we set up a new interview for a month from today, I hung up and ordered a car back to the house. It wasn't until I got inside my ride that I realized I had forgotten something extremely vital. I had apparently neglected to charge my cell the previous night. And how, might you ask, did I realize this? You guessed it, as I was calling my husband to let him know how my wonderful day was going before his morning session, my phone died as well.
So here I am, stuck in the back of a strangers car and listening to the most ungodly awful music known to man, and just praying that I make it home before the sky begins to fall down on top of my head. Little did I realize that the sky had already crumbled around me, I just had neglected to notice the pieces collecting at my feet.
When I arrived home thirty minutes later, two things seemed odd enough to cause my stomach to twist up into knots.
One — my husband's car was parked out front when I had clearly seen him leave for work just a few hours before. Two — there was another car parked out in front of our split-level as well, one that belonged to his 20-year-old guitar student Melinda.
This stuck out to me because Archie never mentioned having any private lessons scheduled today. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I decided to have the driver drop me off a few houses down. This way, I could investigate and find out why exactly Archie had lied to me about where he was going to be today.
I made sure to sneak around the back of the house, carefully removing my heels and gently laying my bags down as I tiptoed into the backdoor. It was when I was making my way deeper into the house that I heard it - the sound that will make any spouse's heart race. It made me freeze dead in my tracks, my stomach wrenching in pain. The sounds of passionate lovemaking were permeating from my bedroom and the voices from inside we no doubt from my husband and another woman.
As calmly and quietly as my trembling legs would possibly allow, I crept upstairs and peered into the crack of the door where it had been left ajar. My heart pounded harder against my sternum as my eyes slowly scanned the room. In one instant, my heart stopped and I could actually feel the cracks forming where it was being shattered into a million different fragments. It all seemed so surreal that I almost thought I was dreaming and willed myself to wake from this torturous nightmare.
There I saw my husband, the light of my life - the only man whom I have ever loved, in the middle of very questionable acts with his student, Melinda. I have always prided myself on being that woman who would go all Southside on a bitch and fight for my man and what was mine if this exact situation was ever to arise.
That the 'Cooper Crazy' would take over and I would fight to the death. But being in the here and now - and actually bearing witness to my husband's infidelity - all I could do was hold my breath, dig my nails into my palms, and wait for the tears. I must have let out a gasp or a semi-silent sob because suddenly Archie looked towards the door and noticed me standing there.
His eyes went wide as he scrambled to push a clueless Melinda off of him and began walking towards me while scrambling to cover himself up. "Fuck! Betty- um, what are you doing here? I-It's- uh, it's not what it looks like. I swear."
I couldn't breathe as I watched him reach out to me, so I did the only thing my mind could comprehend, I ran. I sprinted down the stairs and headed towards the back door while the whole scene played in my mind over and over, alongside all of our happy times.
It was like my life to this point was literally flashing before my eyes and all I could think to do was run away. Run anywhere but here at this moment. Run outside and have a cigarette to stop the pain. Nicotine will help the pain and help me forget, at least for a brief second. The cold would freeze my heart so the shards would not break any more than they already had. Anything to make the pain stop, to make me forget the images that were running through my mind.
By the time I reached the backyard, I collapsed in sobs, my heart squeezing in my chest as the panic began to take over. It took everything I had to control my shaking hands enough to actually light my smoke. I took a draw from it and let the smoke burn my lungs, let it seep into my broken soul and ease the heartache I felt.
I sat there - in the snow with no shoes on, smoking and crying uncontrollably - secretly praying that the world would swallow me up or at least kill me from hypothermia. Anything would be better than the betrayal I felt. Even death had to hurt less than what my body felt right now. I had been outside for only a few minutes when Archie ran out in pajama bottoms, his robe and house shoes before he began shaking me out of my watery trance.
"Betts, Betty... Elizabeth! Snap out of it! You need to come inside, right now! We need to talk about this and I won't have you out here flaunting our personal business to the entire neighborhood. Now, come inside before you catch your death out here," his eyes were stern and cold as he spoke to me. That was all it took for something in me to snap.
"No, I will not be coming inside to 'talk things out'. Fuck what the neighbors think, they can kiss my ass for all I give a shit! Besides, what the hell do you care if I freeze to death or not? You obviously didn't care when you had your dick in another woman, so why now, Archibald?!" Archie winced slightly at my use of his given name and he just stared at me like a puppy being scolded by its master.
Only Archie wasn't just some puppy who'd been caught humping someone's leg; he was my husband who was just caught humping one of his students. He looked at his feet when he spoke and for a moment I almost thought he actually may have felt some remorse. Probably just because he was caught and not that he actually felt bad for cheating.
"How can you ask me that? I love you, Betty." This made the fire raging inside me grow larger and made me seethe. All I wanted to do at that moment was kill something: Him, her, a case of vodka, anything. Anything to stop this madness that I woke up to today.
"You love me? You were just caught playing 'hide-the-sausage' with a student in my fucking bed no less and you have the nerve to say you love me?! Can you please explain how that equates to love, Archibald?" My hands began to tremble again, whether from the cold or from pure hatred I do not know, and I fumbled to light another cigarette.
I could see a pained look on his face as he searched for something to say, for a brief second seeing the eyes of that little boy who stole my heart, and I felt my resolve falter. I actually had this sick, masochistic urge to reach out and comfort him but that was all lost when he spoke again.
"She's pregnant, Elizabeth," he stated firmly, staring directly at me with a neutral expression on his face. My breath halted, my mind was not able to comprehend exactly what he had just said to me. "I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, I never meant to hurt you but it is what it is. I was going to tell you soon but I just didn't know how to do it. I do care about you, Betty - I always will. But Mel and I are in love and we want to get married, have our baby, and raise it as a family. I have never felt this way about anyone before and I can't lie to you anymore. It's over, Betty. I have already talked to another lawyer about drafting the divorce papers and Kevin has agreed to remain your lawyer. I was advised that since the house is in my name and you don't have a steady income right now that I should stay here so I need you to pack a bag and be out tonight."
I couldn't believe what I just heard. My husband - my first and only love - was throwing me out on the streets without even batting an eyelash. He didn't love me, I am not sure if he ever really did love me at all, and now he is telling me that it's over and he is in love with another woman and divorcing me on top of everything else. This was too much for my mind to take, I squeezed my eyes shut while digging my nails deeper into my palms to stop the impending panic attack.
But no matter how hard I clenched them, I could not think of anything else but the excruciating pain that was emanating from my heart. My head began spinning and all the anger I felt was suddenly gone, fading into the darkness that was surrounding me. I heard faint voices calling my name but the pain I felt was too great and I allowed it to swallow me up into the darkness.