Chapter 5: The Truth About the Baby
For a moment, I thought I had heard her wrong.
The room was silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence.
The kind where your brain refuses to accept what your ears just received.
“I’m sorry.””
Tasha’s voice was barely above a whisper.
I stared at her.
“Say that again.””
Her face crumpled.
“I’m pregnant.””
I didn’t move.
I couldn’t.
Because those two words didn’t fit inside the life I knew.
Pregnant.
After years of trying.
After doctor appointments.
After conversations in the dark where we promised each other we would be okay no matter what happened.
After all the disappointment.
After all the nights she cried quietly while pretending she wasn’t crying.
Pregnant.
The word should have made me happy.
It should have been the happiest word in the world.
But sitting there, across from the woman who had betrayed me, it felt like someone had handed me a gift wrapped in a knife.
“How long?””
Tasha looked down.
“Almost eight weeks.””
Eight weeks.
I counted.
My mind immediately went backward.
Eight weeks ago.
The dinner where she barely touched her food.
The night she said she was exhausted and went to bed early.
The weekend she told me she needed space.
Every memory suddenly had a shadow attached to it.
“Is it mine?””
The question came out before I could stop it.
The second I said it, I saw the pain on her face.
But I couldn’t take it back.
Because that was the question that had been sitting in the room before either of us said it.
Tasha looked at me.
“Yes.””
I stared at her.
“How do you know?””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because Ethan and I never…”
She stopped.
I waited.
“Never what?””
She swallowed.
“Never slept together.””
I almost laughed.
Not because I believed her.
Because my brain didn’t know what else to do.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“Yes.””
“After everything?””
“I know how it sounds.””
“How it sounds?””
I stood up.
“You lied about seeing him.””
“Yes.””
“You hid messages.””
“Yes.””
“You planned to leave me.””
“Yes.””
“And now you’re telling me the one thing I want to believe?””
She looked away.
“I’m telling you the truth.””
I walked toward the window.
Outside, people were moving through their normal lives.
Someone was walking a dog.
A woman was carrying groceries.
A man was talking on his phone.
Everyone was just living.
Meanwhile, my entire world was stuck in one room.
“How did you find out?””
Tasha didn’t answer immediately.
Then she said:
“I missed my period.””
I closed my eyes.
“And?””
“I took a test.””
“Alone?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Her voice cracked.
“Because I didn’t know if I wanted you to be the first person I told.””
That hurt more than I expected.
Not because I didn’t understand fear.
Because I did.
But I had spent nine years believing that when something changed our lives, we would face it together.
Apparently, she had already decided she would face it without me.
“What happened after?””
“I went to the doctor.””
“Alone?””
“Yes.””
I turned around.
“You went to a pregnancy appointment alone?””
She nodded.
“I was terrified.””
“And Ethan?””
She froze.
I saw it.
The hesitation.
The tiny pause.
“What about Ethan?””
“He knew.””
Of course he knew.
I looked away.
“He knew before me.””
“Yes.””
I nodded slowly.
That somehow hurt more than the affair.
The idea that another man knew something about my future before I did.
“Why?””
“Because I needed someone.””
“You had me.””
She started crying.
“I know.””
“No.””
I shook my head.
“You keep saying that.””
“I know.””
“But you don’t understand.””
My voice broke.
“You had me.””
The words came out quieter.
“You had your husband sitting next to you every night.””
She looked down.
“And you chose him.””
She whispered:
“Yes.””
That honesty hurt.
But somehow, it also mattered.
At least she wasn’t pretending anymore.
I left the house before noon.
I didn’t tell her where I was going.
I just needed air.
I drove for almost an hour without a destination.
Eventually, I ended up at the park where Tasha and I had our first date.
It was stupid.
I knew it was stupid.
But when your life falls apart, you don’t always go somewhere logical.
Sometimes you go somewhere that still remembers who you were.
I sat on a bench near the lake.
The same lake where she told me she loved me for the first time.
The same lake where she cried when we found out our first fertility treatment failed.
She had held my hand and said:
“I’m sorry.””
I told her:
“Why are you sorry? We’re in this together.””
Together.
That word felt different now.
My phone rang.
I looked down.
Tasha.
I let it ring.
A few seconds later, a message appeared.
Please answer.
I ignored it.
Another message.
I know you’re angry.
Another.
I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness.
Another.
But please don’t disappear.
I stared at that one.
Because that was what I wanted to do.
Disappear.
Run away from the house.
Run away from the memories.
Run away from the impossible question sitting in front of me.
What happens now?
I stayed at the park until sunset.
Then I finally went home.
When I opened the door, I saw Tasha sitting on the couch.
She looked exhausted.
Like she had aged years in one day.
She stood immediately.
“Marcus.””
I didn’t answer.
“I thought you weren’t coming back.””
I placed my keys on the table.
“This is still my house.””
She nodded.
“I know.””
I looked at her.
“Do you?””
She swallowed.
“Yes.””
“Because you were planning to leave.””
Her eyes closed.
“Yes.””
“And you were going to take my child with you.””
She flinched.
“I wasn’t going to keep you from the baby.””
“But you were leaving.””
“Yes.””
“With Ethan?””
“No.””
The answer came quickly.
I noticed.
“What?””
“No.””
She shook her head.
“I was never planning a life with Ethan.””
I stared at her.
“That’s not what it looked like.””
“I know.””
“Then explain.””
She sat down.
“I was confused.””
I almost walked away.
But she continued.
“I know you hate that word.””
I stopped.
“Good.””
She nodded.
“But it’s the only one I have.””
She looked at her hands.
“Ethan made me feel like the version of myself I lost was still there.””
I said nothing.
“But when I found out I was pregnant…”
She looked up.
“I realized I had made everything worse.””
“Because you got caught?””
Her face fell.
“No.””
“Then why?””
“Because I realized I was about to destroy the family I always wanted.””
I looked at her.
“Family?””
“Yes.””
I laughed bitterly.
“You were already destroying it.””
“I know.””
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of what?””
“That you would think the baby was a reason to stay.””
I frowned.
“What?””
She cried.
“I didn’t want you to stay because you felt trapped.””
The words surprised me.
Because there was a part of me that understood.
She didn’t want a forced marriage.
She didn’t want a husband who stayed out of obligation.
But she had forgotten something.
She had already taken away my choice.
“You made that decision for me.””
She looked at me.
“I know.””
“You decided I couldn’t handle the truth.””
“I was wrong.””
“Yes.””
The room became quiet.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Does Ethan know?””
Her expression changed.
“Yes.””
My chest tightened.
“What did he say?””
She looked nervous.
“Marcus…”
“What did he say?””
She hesitated.
“He said he was happy for me.””
I stared at her.
“And?””
“And that he wanted to be there if I needed anything.””
I laughed once.
“Of course he did.””
She looked down.
“There’s something else.””
I felt the tension return.
“What?””
She reached for her phone.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how.””
“What now?””
She unlocked the screen.
Then she showed me a message.
From Ethan.
Sent that morning.
My eyes moved across the words.
And every second I read, the colder I felt.
Because Ethan wasn’t asking about Tasha.
He wasn’t apologizing.
He wasn’t even talking about the baby.
He was asking her one thing:
Did Marcus know the truth yet?
I looked at Tasha.
“He knew you were going to tell me today?””
She nodded.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Her face turned pale.
“I don’t know.””
I looked back at the message.
Then another notification appeared.
A new message.
From Ethan.
Right in front of me.
Tasha’s phone lit up.
May you like
And the first line I saw made my blood run cold.
We need to talk before Marcus finds out who the father really is.