My Lips are Sealed

The ballroom glittered with chandeliers and champagne flutes, every corner humming with the chatter of silk-draped women and boastful men. The women gathered in jeweled clusters, gossip fluttering like sparrows. From the opposite side, the men lounged in tailored suits, recounting expeditions that had clearly grown more glorious with each telling.

A sudden cackle burst from the women’s circle, turning heads. One man smirked. “Women could fill a library with nothing.”

That was when the groom, Dan, lifted his glass and said, “Then let’s put it to the test. A prize for the man whose wife can keep quiet for an entire year.”

The men roared, pounding back shots and spilling drinks.

“No chance in hell,” one barked. “Mine’s a nurse—she doesn’t talk, people die.”

“Mine’s a teacher. If she shuts her mouth a year, she loses her job and I lose my house.”

Someone elbowed Dan. “Depends. How fat’s the purse? Might be worth risking it.”

Dan swept his arm at the glittering hall, the chandeliers, the valets ushering cars like jewels on wheels. He grinned wide. “Half my yearly wages. Winner takes it to do what they will.”

The laughter stuttered to a halt. For a beat, only the ice tinkled in their glasses.

“Half a year’s wages?” one man echoed, low and hungry.

Another chuckled. “I’d have to ask my wife. She’d insist on three-fourths the winnings in writing before she'd consider it.”

The table broke again in wheezing laughter.

Then Cody spoke, voice sharper than the rest as he stood tall--a figure to be reckoned with. “Half your wages, Dan?”

Dan gave him a nod, almost casual.

Before the other men could blink, Cody was already striding across the ballroom, shoulders squared with a drunkard’s confidence. His wife, Jessica, had barely risen from her chair before his hand clamped around hers. She stumbled after him, the hem of her sapphire gown catching on her heels, glittering like blue diamonds in water beneath the chandeliers. Cody spoke to her as he tugged her along, granting details of the plan. The jeweled straps slid against her bare shoulders as she tripped, half-dragged, behind him through the ring of suited men.

“We’ll do it!” Cody declared, breath sharp, eyes fixed on Dan like a man calling a bluff.

Dan tilted his glass lazily, a half-smile curling at the edge of his mouth. “One thing I’ve learned, Cody—unless a man’s got something to lose, he never takes a gamble seriously. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Cody’s jaw tightened. “Yes, I definitely would agree.”

“In that case,” Dan said, swirling his champagne, “five grand down as collateral.”

Cody’s face froze, the color in his cheeks draining faster than his drink. But before he could stammer, Jessica reached into the glittering clutch hanging from her wrist, flicked out a slim card, and slapped it against Dan’s palm with a loud snap.

“We’ll do it, honey,” she said, her voice slicing through the circle. “I can keep quiet long enough to win us a house. I’m tired of paying rent that climbs like ivy every year.”

The men roared with approval, slapping Cody’s back.

Cody smirked, tugging Jessica closer by the arm. “She’s had years of practice ignoring me. This should be easy.”

Her words detonated among the wives. Chairs scraped, heels clicked, handbags flew open as women scrambled through their purses in a frenzy, shoving cards at their husbands as if silence itself had just become spendable currency.

Dan chuckled, motioning his server over. A card reader appeared, sleek and cold as the stakes, while the server jotted names like a bookmaker at a racetrack.

The drive home was thick with silence until Cody broke the overriding hum of the tires rubbing against asphalt. "Dan said the contest would start at midnight. Are you practicing already or getting a headstart?" he chuckled, giving her hand a squeeze.

Jessica finally burst. “Are you mocking me? You don't think I can hold my tongue! I’m stronger than you give me credit for, Cody.”

For a moment, he flicked his eyes from the road and he sighed. “I'm trying to stay in a pleasant mood, but it isn't easy, Jess. That’s two house payments we're throwing into his pockets. Where do you think that money comes from?”

“He already has it,” she shot back.

“Money we’ll owe the bank, then—with interest. Do you even know what that means?”

“Yes,” she said coolly with a sigh and roll of her eyes, tilting her head to face him. “Twelve-fifty. Half a house payment to win a whole house? Worth it.”

She leaned back, eyes flashing. “Besides… the agency called. After seven years, they finally have a baby for us. I was planning on telling you over dinner tomorrow night," she paused, and then she splayed her fingers up palms toward him with a sarcastic, "Surprise. We need a house, Cody.”

For a moment he only gripped the wheel. Then he laughed, shaky but real. “Then this is the perfect opportunity to show our child just how committed you are.”

She reached across, squeezed his hand, and nodded. "I will. Nothing is impossible if I just dedicate myself to the goal. I'm doing this."

Month after month, the contest thinned. Wives fell out, some in silence, some in divorce. By Dan’s anniversary, only two women remained.

The host, glowing with his wife tucked smugly under his arm, new breasts poking up from beneath a diamond necklace, raised his champagne flute. “First, thank you all. With your generous investments, I placed the funds in a high-yield catalogue. My return? Over half a million in a year's time. Pretty damned incredible, if I do say so myself.”

The hall erupted in cheers, and Dan's grin spread like honey melting over a hot scone.

“And I’ll gladly share my investment strategy,” Dan stage-whispered behind his hand, “for a modest fee.”

The laughter rolled until a voice cut through: “What about the payout?”

The crowd parted to reveal Cody, his arm around Jessica, a three-month-old baby in her arms.

“My wife hasn’t spoken since midnight, after the party,” Cody said, "Unless I'm mistaken, she's obviously the winner."

Another woman shoved forward, shouting, “Wrong—I haven’t said a word either!”

Dan lifted his glass with a Cheshire cat grin. “Until now!”

The laughter crushed her protest as she was shamefully absorbed back into the crowd. Her husband coddling her.

When it died down, Cody stepped forward. “You owe us, Dan. You said half your year's income.” He glanced at his surroundings, searching for someone to back him.

Dan tilted his head, smirking. “Correction. I said half my wages. And for that, I owe nothing I," he grinned unapologetically, "for I have no job.”

The room fractured—half outrage, half laughter.

Cody’s glare didn’t waver. He took the baby from Jessica’s arms and led her to the front, stepping behind her. “My wife never broke her vow. When she was tempted to sing to our son...," he swallowed and gave her a gentle push.

Jessica paused and looked back at Cody before turning to face the man of the hour. Slowly, she unwrapped the satin scarf from her throat and lifted her chin. Gasps filled the room like a gas sucking the oxygen away. A thin scar crossed her neck, pale and pink.

Through tears, Cody recited, “Her last words to me were: ‘I’ll love you forever. Know it in your heart. Because from here on out, for our family, my lips are sealed.’”

Dan staggered, his grin collapsing. For the first time all night, the only sound in the glittering ballroom was the echo of a small baby’s cry.