I remembered our wedding day, the way his eyes had drifted to Jane as she stood there in her perfect dress, smiling that perfect smile. He looked at her as though she were the sun, and I was nothing more than a shadow. I had convinced myself it was just my imagination back then. But now, after three years of watching him choose her over me, I knew it wasn’t.
Every holiday, every celebration—Jane was always there, and Louis’ attention was always on her. He spent more time with her than he ever did with me. And now, she was pregnant. Who knows if it was really Jane’s boyfriend that got her pregnant or maybe it was my husband.
A single tear rolled down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I didn’t want to feel weak. I had to make a decision, for myself and for my child. I had to stop pretending that things would ever get better.
I stood up and walked to the dresser, pulling out my phone. My hand hovered over the screen as I scrolled through my contacts, finally landing on the number for my lawyer. If I was going to leave, I needed to be smart. Louis was powerful, and leaving him wouldn’t be easy, but I wouldn’t let my child be raised in this environment. I wouldn’t let them see their mother belittled and pushed aside.
But as my finger hovered over the call button, another thought crept into my mind. What if I didn’t have the baby at all? What if I ended it before it even started? The thought struck me like lightning, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
Was I really considering an abortion? Was I really thinking of erasing this last piece of hope?
Tears welled in my eyes again, but before I could fully process the decision I was contemplating, my phone buzzed in my hand. I blinked away the blur of my vision and glanced down at the screen.
A text from Jane.
My heart dropped.
With trembling hands, I opened the message. It was a photo—Jane and Louis together. He had his arm around her, and she was smiling up at him like they were a perfect little family. The caption read: Celebrating new beginnings.
I felt my chest tighten as my breath caught in my throat. The betrayal, the humiliation, the overwhelming sense of abandonment crashed over me like a tidal wave. I wanted to scream, to throw the phone across the room, to break something, but all I could do was stare at the screen, my heart breaking all over again.