Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
The name on my phone screen made my entire body go cold.
Not because I didn’t recognize it.
Because I did.
*Rachel: Emma… it’s someone you know.*
I stared at those words while standing in the rain outside the house I had shared with my husband for five years.
My hand moved over my stomach as another contraction tightened through me.
The pain was sharp.
But the confusion was worse.
I pressed the call button.
Rachel answered before the first ring finished.
“Emma?””
Her voice was tense.
“Who is it?””
There was a pause.
A long one.
The kind of silence that tells you the answer is going to hurt before you even hear it.
“Emma…”
“Rachel, please.””
I heard her breathe in.
“It’s Megan.””
My fingers tightened around my phone.
“Megan?””
“Yes.””
My mind searched through every person I knew with that name.
Then it found her.
Derek’s younger sister.
My sister-in-law.
The woman who had hugged me at my wedding.
The woman who had cried when I announced my pregnancy.
The woman who had touched my stomach and said, “I can’t wait to be Aunt Megan.””
“No,” I whispered.
Rachel didn’t respond.
Because she knew.
She knew I was trying to convince myself.
“No,” I said again, louder this time.
“That doesn’t make sense.””
“I know.””
“She’s Derek’s sister.””
“I know.””
“She lives two hours away.””
“I know.””
I closed my eyes.
Rainwater ran down my face, mixing with tears I refused to let fall.
Except I wasn’t crying because of Derek.
Not anymore.
I was crying because I had defended people who didn’t deserve it.
“What did you find?”” I asked.
Rachel hesitated.
“Emma, are you sure you’re okay to hear this right now?””
A contraction came again.
I leaned against the brick wall beside the front door.
“I’m about to have a baby, Rachel. I need the truth.””
She exhaled.
“Three weeks ago, I saw something on social media.””
My stomach twisted.
“What?””
“A picture.””
“Of what?””
“Derek and Megan.””
I swallowed.
“Together?””
“Yes.””
My heart started beating faster.
“Maybe it was innocent.””
“I thought that too.””
The rain fell harder.
“Until I saw the date.””
“What date?””
“The date was your anniversary.””
I froze.
My anniversary.
The day Derek forgot.
The day he told me he was exhausted from work.
The day he accused me of being too sensitive because I wanted him to acknowledge five years of marriage.
“You’re wrong,” I said quietly.
“I wish I was.””
“Megan wouldn’t do that.””
“Emma…”
“No.””
My voice cracked.
“Megan loves Derek.””
Rachel went silent.
And suddenly, I realized what I had said.
Not that Megan respected me.
Not that Megan cared about our marriage.
That she loved Derek.
Because I had always noticed something strange.
The way Megan laughed harder at Derek’s jokes than anyone else.
The way she defended him whenever we argued.
The way she seemed to know things about his schedule before I did.
But I had ignored it.
Because accusing your husband’s sister of crossing a line felt impossible.
Because sometimes the truth is so ugly that your mind protects you from seeing it.
“Rachel,” I whispered.
“What did the picture show?””
“I don’t have it anymore.””
“Why?””
“Because I didn’t want to send it to you while you were pregnant.””
I almost laughed.
A painful, broken sound.
“Rachel, I’m literally standing outside my house because my husband left me during labor.””
“I know.””
“So please don’t protect me from reality anymore.””
She was quiet.
Then she said, “It showed them at a restaurant.””
“That’s it?””
“No.””
I waited.
“They were holding hands.””
The world seemed to stop.
A car passed at the end of the street, headlights cutting through the rain.
For a second, I forgot I was outside.
Forgot I was in labor.
Forgot everything except those two words.
Holding hands.
“Emma?””
I didn’t answer.
“Emma, are you there?””
“Yes.””
My voice sounded distant.
“What else?””
Rachel sighed.
“I started looking.””
My eyebrows pulled together.
“Looking for what?””
“The truth.””
The way she said it scared me.
“Rachel…”
“I checked old posts. Messages I could see. Things I remembered.””
“And?””
“And Derek wasn’t meeting clients every Thursday night.””
The air left my lungs.
My husband’s “client dinners.””
His late nights.
His sudden need to travel.
His irritated expression whenever I asked where he had been.
All those moments I had swallowed.
All those times I told myself I was being paranoid.
“You’re saying he was with her?””
“I’m saying I found enough evidence that I think you deserve answers.””
My contraction ended.
I looked down at the fifteen dollars still in my hand.
A taxi ride.
That was what my husband thought I deserved.
A cheap ride to a hospital while he went somewhere else.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”” I asked.
Rachel’s voice softened.
“Because every time I tried, you defended him.””
I closed my eyes.
She was right.
Every time.
When he missed my birthday dinner.
“He’s stressed.””
When he forgot the baby’s appointment.
“He’s overwhelmed.””
When he spent more time away from home.
“He’s trying to provide.””
I had built excuses around him so carefully that I trapped myself inside them.
“Emma,” Rachel said.
“You need to come here.””
I looked toward the road.
“I’m coming.””
“Good.””
“But I need to know something.””
“What?””
“Why tell me now?””
There was another pause.
Then Rachel answered.
“Because Megan called me.””
My entire body went still.
“Megan called you?””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“An hour ago.””
The rain seemed suddenly freezing.
“Why would she call you?””
“I don’t know.””
“Rachel.””
“I answered, and she asked if you had gone into labor.””
I frowned.
“How would she know?””
“She said Derek told her.””
My fingers went numb.
Derek told Megan.
Before he helped me.
Before he took me to the hospital.
Before he even stayed with me.
He told her.
“Emma,” Rachel continued.
“There’s more.””
I stared at the street.
“What?””
“She asked me something strange.””
“What?””
“She asked if you still planned to leave Ohio after the baby was born.””
My chest tightened.
“What?””
“She knew about Pittsburgh.””
I felt the ground shift beneath me.
Nobody knew about Pittsburgh.
Nobody except Rachel.
And me.
Not Derek.
Not his family.
Nobody.
“Rachel…”
“I know.””
“How did she know?””
“I don’t know.””
My phone buzzed.
A notification appeared.
A message.
From Derek.
For a moment, I just stared at his name.
The man who had left me.
The man who had chosen a dinner over his wife and unborn child.
My finger hovered over the screen.
Rachel heard the silence.
“Is it him?””
“Yes.””
“Don’t answer if you don’t want to.””
I opened the message.
Only one sentence.
*DEREK: Where are you going?*
I stared at it.
Not:
Are you okay?
Not:
Did you get to the hospital?
Not:
Is the baby okay?
Just:
Where are you going?
I felt something inside me change.
A few hours ago, I would have responded immediately.
I would have explained.
I would have tried to make him understand.
But the woman standing in the rain was not the same woman who had walked into that kitchen.
I typed slowly.
*ME: Somewhere safe.*
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, another message came.
*DEREK: Emma, don’t make this dramatic. You’re about to be a mother. Act like it.*
I stared at the words.
My hands trembled.
Not because I was hurt.
Because I finally saw him clearly.
I showed Rachel the message.
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“Emma, a person who loves you doesn’t have to be convinced to show up.””
I looked down at my phone.
Then I blocked Derek.
The action was simple.
One tap.
But it felt like closing a door I had spent years holding open.
A taxi pulled up at the end of the street.
I waved.
As the driver stepped out, he looked at my hospital bag.
Then at my stomach.
“You heading to Riverside?””
I looked back at my house.
The place where I had spent years waiting for someone to choose me.
“No,” I said.
My voice was calm.
“I’m going to Pittsburgh.””
The driver opened the trunk.
I started walking toward the car.
Then my phone buzzed one more time.
Not Derek.
Not Rachel.
A number I didn’t recognize.
I answered.
“Hello?””
A woman’s voice spoke softly.
“Emma?””
I froze.
“Who is this?””
The woman hesitated.
Then whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
“It’s Megan.””
I gripped the phone tighter.
“Why are you calling me?””
Silence.
Then:
“Because there’s something Derek never told you about the baby.””
I stopped moving.
The taxi driver looked over.
“Ma’am?””
I couldn’t speak.
Because suddenly, the question wasn’t why Derek abandoned me.
It was what else he had been hiding.
May you like
And Megan’s next words changed everything.
“Emma… you need to know who the baby’s father really is.””
