Chapter 3

It was Effie Henson herself who told me she was pregnant.

Eugene was away on a business trip that day, and it was just the two of us at home.

She sat across from me, gently stroking her belly.

"Mrs. Harding, I'm pregnant."

I looked up and watched her lips.

"It's Eugene's child."

She smiled and spoke slowly, word by word, as if afraid I wouldn't understand.

"He said you'd understand. After all, you can't have a healthy child, and the Harding family needs an heir."

I gripped the cup tightly in my hand.

"You've been deaf for so many years, you must be used to it by now, right?" She stood up and leaned in close to me. "Used to being cast aside, used to being replaced."

"It's fine, you can go on being Mrs. Harding. You just have to sit at home and do nothing anyway."

"Eugene and I will take care of everything for you."

When she finished, she smiled and walked away.

I sat there, my fingers gripping the cup until they turned white.

When Eugene came back, he set that prenatal checkup report in front of me again.

"Lena, you know about me and Dr. Henson, don't you?"

I looked at him and said nothing.

"She's only a surrogate. It doesn't change your place here."

I nodded.

He let out a breath and bent down to hug me.

"There's a good girl. You're still Mrs. Harding, and that will never change."

He smelled of Effie's perfume.

After he left, I took off my hearing aid, and the world went silent in an instant.

I walked to the window and looked down at the garden.

Effie was sitting on the swing, basking in the sun, one hand over her belly, smiling with pure happiness.

Eugene walked over and bent down to kiss her cheek.

Their lips moved a few times.

"She believed it?"

"She's deaf. Say anything and she'll believe it."

I drew the curtains.

The next day, I went to see my attending physician.

For the past three years, he'd been the one following up on my hearing.

"Dr. Stanley, there's something I want to ask you."

He looked up.

"My ears—is surgery really out of the question?"