Chapter 2: The Family I Thought I Knew
I walked back into my baby shower eight minutes later.
Eight minutes.
That was all the time I had to put my face back together.
Eight minutes to stop shaking.
Eight minutes to pretend my husband hadn’t been kissing my mother behind a pantry door.
The living room looked exactly the same.
That was the cruelest part.
The balloons were still floating.
The gifts were still stacked beside the couch.
My friends were still smiling.
My aunt was still arguing with someone about whether babies should wear socks in summer.
The world had continued.
Mine had stopped.
“Emma!””
My best friend Lily rushed toward me.
“You disappeared. Are you okay?””
I forced a smile.
“Bathroom.””
She looked at me carefully.
Lily had known me since college.
She knew when I was lying.
“You look pale.””
“I’m pregnant.””
“That excuse stopped working after the first trimester.””
Normally, I would have laughed.
Normally, I would have hugged her.
Instead, I looked across the room.
Cole was standing near the dessert table.
My husband.
My betrayer.
He was smiling at guests like nothing happened.
A woman approached him and touched his arm.
“You must be so excited.””
Cole nodded.
“We are.””
We.
The word hit me harder than it should have.
Because there was still a part of me that wanted to believe him.
A part of me that remembered every good morning kiss.
Every grocery trip.
Every night he placed his hand on my stomach and talked to our daughter.
I hated that part of me.
I hated that love didn’t disappear just because someone hurt you.
Lily followed my gaze.
“Did something happen with Cole?””
My head snapped back.
“No.””
Too fast.
She noticed.
Before she could ask more, my mother entered the room.
Everyone cheered.
“Grandma Darla!””
People laughed.
Darla smiled weakly.
I watched her accept hugs from people.
She looked like she was trying to play a role.
The loving mother.
The excited grandmother.
The woman who wasn’t secretly destroying her daughter’s marriage.
I walked toward her.
She saw me coming and immediately stepped away from the crowd.
“Emma.””
“Tell me.””
Her eyes filled.
“Not here.””
“You said I needed to know.””
“I do.””
“Then tell me.””
She glanced around.
“Please. After everyone leaves.””
I stared at her.
“You still want to control when I find out?””
“No.””
“Then why wait?””
Her voice dropped.
“Because once I tell you, there is no going back.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Mom, there is already no going back.””
She looked like she wanted to touch me.
She didn’t.
That was the first good decision she had made all day.
Across the room, Cole watched us.
His expression was hard.
Almost angry.
I walked away from my mother and found him near the kitchen entrance.
“Why are you afraid of what she’s going to tell me?””
He swallowed.
“I’m not.””
“Don’t lie to me.””
“Emma, please.””
“No. You don’t get to say please anymore.””
People were close enough to hear us, so he lowered his voice.
“Can we talk privately?””
I almost laughed.
Privately.
That was where secrets happened.
“Funny. Private conversations seem to be your specialty.””
His face tightened.
“Emma.””
“Did you love her?””
The question came out before I could stop it.
Cole looked shocked.
“No.””
“Then why?””
“It wasn’t like that.””
I stared at him.
“You kissed my mother.””
“I know.””
“While I was ten feet away.””
“I know.””
“While she was touching my baby.””
His eyes closed.
“I know.””
I wanted him to deny it.
I wanted him to say something impossible.
I wanted him to tell me there was an explanation that would repair the cracks.
Instead, he just stood there.
Guilty.
The guests started singing near the cake table.
Someone called my name.
“Emma! Cake!””
I looked at the cake.
At the tiny pink decorations.
At the words written in frosting:
WELCOME BABY GIRL.
A wave of nausea hit me.
Not pregnancy nausea.
Something deeper.
“I need air.””
I walked outside.
The backyard was decorated with fairy lights.
The same backyard where Cole had proposed two years earlier.
He had gotten down on one knee near the old oak tree.
“I want every season of life with you,” he had said.
I believed him.
I believed everything.
The back door opened.
I expected Lily.
Instead, it was Darla.
She held an envelope.
My heart stopped.
“What is that?””
She looked down at it.
“I should have given this to you years ago.””
Years.
Not days.
Not months.
Years.
“What is inside?””
She handed it to me.
My fingers shook as I opened it.
Inside was a document.
And at the top were words that made my breath disappear.
PATERNITY TEST RESULTS.
I looked at my mother.
Then at the paper.
Then back at her.
“Why do you have this?””
May you like
Darla started crying.
“Because I’m the reason you never knew the truth.””
