Chapter 5: The Man Who Knew Too Much
I opened the door slowly.
A man stood on the porch.
Mid-forties.
Dark jacket.
A folder tucked under his arm.
He looked directly at me.
Then past me.
Straight at Emma.
“Is she here?””
My hand tightened around the door.
“Who are you?””
The man hesitated.
“My name is David Collins.””
Emma stood behind me.
I heard her breathing change.
“David…”
The man looked at her.
“You didn’t tell him.””
It wasn’t a question.
It was an accusation.
My chest tightened.
“Tell me what?””
Emma stepped forward.
“David, please leave.””
“No.””
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“You almost destroyed three lives because you were too afraid to admit the truth.””
I turned toward Emma.
“What is he talking about?””
She looked away.
David handed me the folder.
“I think you should read this.””
I didn’t take it.
“Who are you?””
He looked at Emma.
“I was her therapist.””
My stomach dropped.
Emma immediately stepped forward.
“You cannot do this.””
“I can’t keep protecting you from the consequences of your choices.””
I looked between them.
“Therapist?””
Emma’s voice shook.
“I was struggling during pregnancy.””
“Struggling enough to hide things from me?””
David looked at the folder.
“She came to me because she was having severe anxiety.””
I opened my mouth.
Then closed it.
Anxiety.
Fear.
Those words explained some things.
But they didn’t explain everything.
“She told me she was afraid she would hurt herself.””
Emma’s face went white.
“David.””
I froze.
“What?””
David looked at me.
“She was not afraid of the baby.””
Emma looked down.
“She was afraid of what motherhood would do to her.””
I stared at my wife.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?””
Her voice was barely audible.
“Because I thought you would look at me differently.””
“I do look at you differently.””
Tears rolled down her face.
“I know.””
“No, Emma. I don’t look at you differently because you struggled. I look at you differently because you made me find out after our son was already in danger.””
David nodded slowly.
“That is the part she needs to understand.””
Emma looked at him angrily.
“You don’t know what I felt.””
“No,” he replied.
“But I know what you did.””
Nobody spoke.
Then David turned to me.
“There’s something else.””
My heart sank.
“What else?””
He reached into the folder.
He pulled out a piece of paper.
“I found this in her session notes.””
Emma immediately moved forward.
“Don’t.””
I grabbed the paper.
My eyes moved across the page.
A handwritten sentence was underlined.
*I am afraid I will become my mother.*
I looked up.
Emma was crying.
“I hated myself for feeling that way.””
I lowered the paper.
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because every time I looked at you holding your hand over my stomach, smiling because you were excited to meet him…”
She covered her mouth.
“I felt like the worst person alive.””
The anger inside me didn’t disappear.
But something else appeared.
Confusion.
Because for the first time, I realized the woman who hurt our son might also have been drowning.
But then David spoke again.
And his next words changed everything.
“Mr. Carter, there is one thing Emma never told you.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
He looked at Emma.
She closed her eyes.
Like she already knew.
“She wasn’t only afraid of becoming a mother.””
The room became silent.
“She was afraid because someone from her past contacted her during the pregnancy.””
I felt my heart stop.
“Someone?””
May you like
Emma whispered:
“My ex-husband.””
