Chapter 2

Maybe he'd picked up on my mood, because once his hair was dry he came and sat down beside me again.

"What is it? Still blaming yourself?"

Blaming myself? I hadn't expected him to think that, and my eyes went wide before I could stop them.

But to him, the reaction only looked like he'd read me exactly right.

"It's okay. I'll remember those days, that's enough."

He gathered me into his arms and murmured the comfort softly.

Then, as if something had just come back to him, he unlocked his phone and handed it to me.

On the screen was one of those matching-set trinkets that had been all over social media lately.

The same one I'd seen on Shelby Prescott's feed earlier that day.

"Aren't those really hard to get hold of?" I looked into his eyes and started to test him.

"As long as you like it, hard to get or not, I'll get it for you." He patted my head, his tone all indulgence.

"Though, you know how it is, these have to go through someone to buy now." He sighed and pulled me back against him.

"But it'll be here next month." His arms were warm, and yet my body felt colder and colder.

I thought of all those photos on Shelby's feed, so many brands I recognized.

I didn't dare think too closely about it.

All these years, the gifts I'd treasured like something precious. How many of them had gone to Shelby first?

How many had only been the freebies that came with buying her presents?

I closed my eyes and looked back over our ten years. The truth cut too deep, and the pillowcase I'd only just changed was soaked through with tears again all night.

When I woke, Stewart had already made breakfast.

Looking at the simple eggs and ham, the homemade breakfast that used to move me left me with no appetite at all.

Today was the prenatal checkup, and Stewart had been waiting at the door for a while, hurrying me along.

But the moment I'd changed and walked out of the room, I saw him back in the living room grabbing his things, his face full of urgency.

"Something urgent's come up at work. I have to head out." He tossed it off as he passed me.

"I can't go with you to the checkup today."

Even though I'd braced myself for it ahead of time, in that moment my heart still skipped a beat.

"Does it have to be today?" I looked up at him, wishing so much that he could feel what I was feeling right then and set down that bag in his hand.

"What do you mean, does it have to be today? An emergency at work doesn't wait for a better day." There was impatience in his voice.

"Just this once. Just once, can't you go on your own?" He looked at me, and there was something almost like hatred in his eyes.

It felt like my heart was being squeezed in a fist, and I could barely breathe.

Thinking back to the last set of results, I grabbed his arm and tried to hold him.

"Can't you just not go? You know the doctor said last time that—"

But before I could finish, he cut me off.

"If I don't go to work, who's going to support you? Who's going to support the baby?"

"Whose husband goes to every single one? How many times have I gone with you already? That's plenty, isn't it."

"Can you stop crying at the drop of a hat? Even if you won't think about yourself, you have to think about the son in your belly."

I looked at him and felt like the man in front of me had become a stranger. All these years, and I'd never once seen him clearly.

His phone rang again. He flung my hand off, and I lost my footing and nearly fell.

But the pain in my belly left me uneasy, and I tried to grab him again, tried to make him take me to the hospital.

He only glanced at me once, then left without looking back.

A second before I blacked out, I dialed 911.