I’d enter a room to find him abruptly ending calls, muttering a quick, “I’ll talk to you later.” It was suspicious, but I was so fixated on having a child that I refused to let my fears get the better of me.
By the time I reached forty, I was on the verge of giving up. But a stubborn part of me refused to accept defeat.
I decided to make one last attempt. When I told Ethan, his response was underwhelming.
“Do what makes you happy,” he mumbled, his indifference cutting deep.
Miraculously, against all odds, I became pregnant. “Ethan,” I said, my hands shaking as I held the positive test, “we did it! I’m pregnant.”
“That’s… great,” he replied, his voice lacking any real enthusiasm. I chose to ignore his odd reaction, focusing instead on the new life growing inside me.
Nine months later, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Ethan, however, refused to be present in the delivery room. “I’ll faint,” he said when I begged him to stay. “They’ll have to take care of me instead of you.”
So, I faced the most challenging moment of my life alone. Two hours after the birth, Ethan finally showed up. His first words were like a dagger to my heart.
“Are you sure he’s mine?” His tone was cold and accusatory.
I stared at him in disbelief. “What? Ethan, how could you even ask that? Of course, he’s yours! We’ve been trying for years!”
His jaw clenched as he reached into his jacket pocket. “I have proof,” he said, his voice icy.
My world began to spin. Proof? Proof of what?
He claimed his mother had shown him photos of a man meeting me outside our house. She even insinuated that I had swapped babies at the hospital.
“This is insane! You actually believe these lies?” I cried, my voice cracking.
“She wouldn’t lie to me,” he insisted. “She’s my mother.”
“And I’m your wife!” I shouted, tears streaming down my face. “I almost died giving birth, and you’re accusing me of this?”
He turned and walked out. “I’ll come back when I’m ready to talk.”
The moment he left, I called my best friend, Lily. Through sobs, I told her everything.
“Claire, this doesn’t make sense,” she said after I finished. “Something’s wrong. Let me help you.”
That night, Lily followed Ethan and saw him enter another woman’s house. When she told me, it felt like a punch in the gut.
