Chapter 4

She said it with total conviction, not even pausing for breath.

I leaned back against the couch. Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling glass and settled over me, warm on my skin.

"Melissa Swanson."

Hearing me use her full name, she froze, and the air in the whole room went still.

Sanjay's family quietly set down the antiques in their hands and turned to look at us.

I studied Melissa's face, no longer as fine or dewy as it once was, and asked, one word at a time,

"When's the wedding?"

"Next Sunday."

I did the math. That should be enough time.

I finished my pregnancy tonic slowly, set down the bowl, and looked at her.

"You'll get the hundred million. But only at your wedding, in front of all your guests and the press."

When she heard I planned to bring media and reporters to the wedding too,

Melissa put her hands on her hips and stood up off the couch, chin lifted at me.

"That works."

"Come on, Sanjay. Tell them to leave everything where it is. The whole estate's going to be mine anyway. No point hauling it back and forth."

And with that, the whole crowd swept out.

Only then did I notice Sanjay's family were decked head to toe in designer labels.

Melissa, though, was still wearing the dress I'd bought her before she went abroad, and she'd even forgotten to get the latest nails done.

Three days later, the old naturopath took my pulse and said the IVF had worked. It was a son.

To be sure, my husband took me to the hospital first thing in the morning for bloodwork.

When he saw the words single live fetus on the ultrasound report, he was so moved he broke down crying.

I held him tight, and something like guilt stirred quietly inside me.

All these years, to spare my feelings, he'd stood firmly by me in not having a second child.

I knew perfectly well how much gossip and grief that had cost him.

But it was all right now.

Everything I'd lost before, I could start taking back, little by little.

I'd barely left the hospital when Melissa called.

"The wedding's tomorrow, at the Grand Garden Hotel. Don't forget to bring plenty of cash. The hundred million is just for me. All the wedding expenses on the day are on you too."

No greeting, no asking nicely.

Just like always, she made all her plans and then informed me after the fact.

I hadn't even said a word before she hung up.

My husband, aching for me, pulled me close and gave my shoulder a soothing squeeze.

I smiled a little. That same night, I had Gilbert Chavez draw up an agreement.

The next day, the crystal chandeliers at the wedding lit the whole ballroom bright white.

Melissa, belly out to here, wore the gown I'd ordered for her in Paris last year.

Smiling, she took the microphone from the emcee and cleared her throat.

"Friends, guests here today, I know there's been quite a bit of talk about me online lately. So I want to take this chance to clear up a misunderstanding."

"The truth is, all those rumors online are false."

She lifted her chin and held a marriage certificate up to the cameras.

Her voice echoed through the hall over the mic.

"I didn't marry some Black man. Sanjay and his whole family married into the Swansons."

The guests exchanged glances, and someone in the back rows muttered under their breath,

"Married in? First time I've ever seen a man marry in and bring his whole family along."

Melissa acted like she hadn't heard. She stroked her belly and said, gloating,

"My mother knows all about this. She's even set aside a hundred million for us. Fifty million is my husband Sanjay's bride price, and the other fifty is startup money for our little family."

"And my mother's covering everything for Sanjay's whole family, settling them and finding them work here in the country."

She jerked her chin toward me, a smile tugging at her lips.

Someone in the crowd couldn't hold back.

"How is that marrying in? This is plain and simple preying on a family to drain it dry."

"Drain it dry? Don't make it sound so ugly. My mother has only one child, me. Isn't what's hers mine? And isn't what's mine our little family's? I'm part of the family. What's wrong with helping out your own?"

Melissa folded her arms and looked at me.

The whole ballroom went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Every camera in the room swung around, lenses shoved right up at my face.

I smiled faintly and said nothing, rising to my feet under the whole room's gaze.

My husband steadied me and handed me the red gift box we'd prepared beforehand.

Melissa stared at the box in my hands, her smile widening.

"How heavy can one check be? Mom, hurry it up, everyone's waiting."

Her tone was light, like she was calling a waiter to bring out the food.

I set the box on the table and opened it slowly.

I took out a document, unfolded it slowly toward the cameras, and said, taking my time,

"Melissa, when exactly did I ever say you were the only child I'd have in this life?"

With every eye on me,

on the giant screen behind me, a hospital ultrasound report appeared, clear as day.

In the bottom left corner, a single line of text:

Carolyn Dickerson, intrauterine early pregnancy, single live fetus.

Melissa's smile froze on her face in an instant.