Chapter 1

The night I found out Dustin Sullivan had cheated on me, I climbed onto the river bridge.

Staring down at the bottomless black water, I looked back at him, nearly out of my mind.

"I told you. If I ever caught you betraying me, I'd make you regret it for the rest of your life."

At the last possible second, it was my best friend who dragged me back from the edge, and lost her own footing, plunging into the river instead.

Before she went under, her voice rang out across the scene, a warning hurled at Dustin.

"If you ever wrong Rosie again, I'll never forgive you, not even from the grave!"

For the two years after that, countless times, I stood at the window and wanted to throw myself out of it.

It was Dustin who wrapped his arms around me when I spun out of control, crying as he spoke.

"I was wrong. I'll never do anything to hurt you again."

"If something happens to you, then Geraldine Pruitt died for nothing!"

After that, I fought to hold myself together, but he started vomiting constantly, growing thinner and thinner.

Whenever I asked, he'd just wave it off and say it was the stress.

Then, the day before Valentine's Day, while I was picking out a gift at the mall, a post scrolled past on my phone.

【When a man loves a woman deeply enough, while she's carrying his child, he can experience the morning sickness in her place.】

I thought it was nonsense. But when I looked up, I saw Dustin walking out of a movie theater, holding a woman's hand.

"This kid's already such a handful."

"When he comes out, I'm definitely going to give him a good smack!"

And the woman beside him, her whole face glowing with happiness, was the best friend who'd fallen into the river two years ago to save me. Geraldine.

……

The gift slipped from my hands and hit the floor. Ignoring the salesperson calling after me, I followed them.

Geraldine listened to Dustin and said, all shy and coy.

"Oh, come on, it's only been three months and you already want to smack him. What kind of father are you?"

"Besides, how do you even know it's a boy or a girl?"

Dustin held her hand, and in his voice was that gentleness and patience I knew so painfully well.

"If it's a daughter, of course I'll be happy. But I'm hoping for a boy."

He paused, and something restless flickered in his eyes.

"Rosamund Swanson's moods swing back and forth. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep it hidden forever, and she'll come after you."

"If it's a boy, he can help me protect you."

Geraldine's face filled with emotion, and she rose onto her toes to press a kiss to his lips.

"Dustin, thank you for loving me."

Dustin's eyes reddened, and he ruffled the top of her hair.

"Silly. I'm the one who's put you through all this."

"Come on, let's go home and I'll make you something good to eat."

I flagged down a taxi and followed. Twenty minutes later, the car stopped outside a villa community in the suburbs.

The estate's patrolling steward spotted me and asked, instantly on guard.

"Ma'am, who are you here for?"

My throat tightened. I forced out a smile.

"Mr. Sullivan hired me to come cook."

Understanding dawned on the steward's face, and an envious look came over him at once.

"Mrs. Sullivan really is a lucky woman. You're the fifth cook he's called in this month."

"It's number fourteen, just up ahead."

I thanked him and walked on.

The moment I reached the door, I saw him through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window. Dustin, in an apron, cooking.

Every motion smooth as flowing water, his knife work effortless.

Geraldine hugged him from behind, praising how amazing he was.

I watched it all, my eyes stinging, and thought back to seven years ago.

Back then, we'd just graduated.

Dustin defied his parents' objections, set on being with me.

To prove himself, he started a business from nothing.

We lived in a single rented room with terrible ventilation.

He couldn't cook, so it always fell to me.

Over time, I came down with a bad case of bronchitis, my voice so hoarse I could barely speak.