Chapter 2
For a second, the entire room disappeared.
The monitor.
The nurses.
Ashley’s cries.
The bright hospital lights.
All I could see was Daniel.
“The test confirmed it?” I asked.
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Ashley made a broken sound from the bed.
“You told me she knew.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Ashley, please.”
“Don’t ‘Ashley, please’ me.”
Another contraction hit her before she could say more.
She grabbed the bedrail and screamed.
The fetal monitor changed.
One of the nurses looked at me.
“Heart rate is dropping.”
Training took over before emotion could.
I stepped toward the monitor.
“How long?”
“About forty seconds.”
“Turn her to the left.”
The nurses moved quickly.
I hated that my hands were steady.
I hated that years of training had taught my body to function while my life was collapsing.
“Ashley, listen to me,” I said. “I need you to breathe.”
She looked at me with tears pouring down her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Not now.”
“I swear I didn’t know.”
“Not now.”
The fetal heart rate recovered.
Barely.
I turned to the nurse.
“Where is Dr. Patel?”
“Finishing an emergency C-section.”
“Call whoever is covering.”
“I already did.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Emily—”
“Get away from me.”
His face tightened.
“I know how this looks.”
I stared at him.
“How it looks?”
Ashley laughed bitterly from the bed.
“That’s what you’re going with?”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You never do,” Ashley snapped.
I looked at her.
Even in labor, even terrified, she looked furious with him.
Something about that registered.
Not forgiveness.
Not sympathy.
Just information.
Daniel had lied to both of us.
Another alarm sounded.
The baby’s heart rate dropped again.
This time it stayed down.
“Call Patel again,” I said.
“We have.”
Ashley panicked.
“What’s happening?”
“We’re going to move quickly.”
“Is my baby okay?”
“I need you to focus on my voice.”
Her eyes locked on mine.
Of all the people in the world, she had to trust me.
The wife of the man who had gotten her pregnant.
The woman whose marriage she had unknowingly walked into.
Life could be cruel in ways no television drama would dare write because people would call it unrealistic.
“Emily,” Daniel said, “shouldn’t someone else—”
I turned on him.
“If someone else were available, they would be here.”
“I just don’t want—”
“You stopped getting to tell me what you want about ten minutes ago.”
He went silent.
Ashley squeezed her eyes shut.
“I need to push.”
The nurse checked.
“She’s complete.”
I looked toward the door.
No doctor.
No time.
I could refuse.
Technically, I should remove myself because of the conflict.
But the baby did not create this situation.
The baby did not betray anyone.
And right now, the baby needed a doctor.
I pulled on gloves.
“Ashley, your baby is showing signs of distress. We need to deliver.”
Her face went pale.
“Please save her.”
Her.
A girl.
Daniel and I had once talked about having a daughter.
We already had Caleb, our thirteen-year-old son, and for years Daniel had said maybe one day we would try again.
After two miscarriages, we stopped trying.
He had held me on our bathroom floor after the second one.
He had cried into my hair.
He had told me our family was enough.
Apparently, it had only been enough for me.
“Emily?”
Ashley’s voice pulled me back.
“I’m here.”
The door opened.
Dr. Patel rushed in.
Relief almost knocked the strength out of my legs.
He assessed the situation in seconds.
“I’ve got it.”
I stepped back.
Only then did I realize my hands were shaking.
Patel glanced at me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer I had given all night.
His eyes moved to Daniel.
Recognition crossed his face.
Then understanding.
He didn’t ask.
He simply said, “Go.”
I stripped off my gloves.
Daniel followed me into the hallway.
“Emily.”
I kept walking.
“Emily, stop.”
I spun around so fast he almost ran into me.
“How long?”
He froze.
“How long have you been sleeping with her?”
“This isn’t the place.”
I laughed.
It sounded terrible.
“Interesting. Because apparently this hospital was the perfect place for you to bring your pregnant mistress.”
“She isn’t my mistress.”
The sentence hit me like a slap.
Daniel realized too late what he had said.
I stared at him.
“What is she, then?”
He looked away.
I stepped closer.
“What is she?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
He lowered his voice.
“It started about a year and a half ago.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
“A year and a half.”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t complicated.”
“Emily—”
“That’s eighteen months.”
“I know.”
“Eighteen months of coming home to me.”
He looked sick.
“Eighteen months of sitting at our dinner table.”
“I know.”
“Eighteen months of helping Caleb with homework and kissing me goodnight and asking what I wanted for our anniversary.”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
I stared at him.
People always said that after doing the exact thing guaranteed to cause maximum pain.
“You didn’t want to hurt me?”
“No.”
“You just wanted to betray me without consequences.”
“That’s not fair.”
I actually smiled.
“Fair?”
He reached for me.
I backed away.
“Do not touch me.”
His hand dropped.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
He said nothing.
“When, Daniel?”
“After the baby was born.”
I looked through the glass window in the door behind him.
Ashley was pushing.
Nurses surrounded her.
Daniel had planned to watch another woman give birth to his child and then come home.
To me.
To Caleb.
Maybe eat dinner.
Maybe ask how my shift went.
My stomach turned.
“How did the paternity test happen?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation told me there was another ugly piece.
“Ashley wanted certainty.”
From inside the room, she shouted, “No, I didn’t!”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Even Patel looked toward the door.
Ashley’s voice came again.
“He accused me of cheating!”
I turned slowly back to Daniel.
His face had gone gray.
“You accused her?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Ashley shouted through another contraction.
“He said he wouldn’t destroy his family over a baby that might not be his!”
There it was.
Not love.
Not confusion.
Calculation.
He had been willing to cheat on his family.
He just hadn’t been willing to lose us unless DNA forced him to face what he had done.
“Emily,” he whispered.
I stepped away.
“You wanted proof before you decided which life to keep.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, I swear.”
“Then tell me I’m wrong.”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
A newborn’s cry suddenly filled the room behind us.
Everything stopped.
Daniel turned toward the sound.
So did I.
The cry was strong.
Healthy.
Alive.
My eyes filled despite everything.
Through the glass, I saw Patel lift a tiny baby girl.
Ashley sobbed.
Daniel moved toward the door.
I grabbed his sleeve.
He looked at me.
“Before you go in there,” I said, “you answer one question.”
“What?”
“Did you use our money?”
His face changed.
Tiny movement.
Almost nothing.
But I knew him.
I had known him for sixteen years.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Emily—”
“How much?”
“I can explain.”
“How much?”
He lowered his voice.
“Some.”
“How much is some?”
“She needed help with rent.”
I stared at him.
“And appointments.”
My heart started pounding.
“And?”
“Emily.”
“And?”
He swallowed.
“I paid for the paternity test.”
“With our money?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
But he still wasn’t done.
I could feel it.
“How much total?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You know.”
“Maybe thirty.”
“Thirty what?”
He didn’t answer.
My chest tightened.
“Thirty thousand dollars?”
“Around that.”
I laughed again.
Then I realized he wouldn’t look at me.
“Daniel.”
Silence.
“Is it more?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Seventy-four.”
I stopped breathing.
“Seventy-four thousand dollars?”
“Over time.”
As if installments made betrayal cheaper.
I thought of our savings account.
College money.
The kitchen renovation we postponed.
The vacation Caleb wanted that Daniel said we should skip because money was tight.
Seventy-four thousand dollars.
A baby cried behind the door.
My husband stared at the floor.
Something inside me went completely quiet.
I removed my wedding ring.
Daniel looked up.
“Emily, don’t.”
I placed it in his hand.
His fingers closed around it automatically.
“You wanted two lives.”
“That’s not what I wanted.”
“You have one now.”
His eyes widened.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying go meet your daughter.”
“Emily.”
“Go.”
“I love you.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
Then I said the only thing that felt true.
“You should have thought about that before you taught me how little your love was worth.”
I walked away before he could answer.
I made it to the staff bathroom.
Locked the door.
And finally fell apart.
My phone buzzed while I was sitting on the floor.
A message from Caleb.
Dad said he might be late tonight. Can you pick me up from Grandma’s?
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
Daniel had arranged for his mother to watch our son.
He had planned this.
Every detail.
Every lie.
And suddenly another question entered my mind.
May you like
One that made my blood run cold.
How much did his mother know?
