The Day She Carried My Husband’s Child, I Left That Family Chapter 02

The Day She Carried My Husband’s Child, I Left That Family Chapter 02

The living room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Graham froze for a second, then yanked me into his arms.

“I’ll explain everything. Go back for now, and we’ll talk once you’ve had time to calm down.”

He was pulling me toward the door when my father suddenly raised his voice. “Mara, what gives you the right to ask for a divorce?”

Graham moved to stop him, but my father continued heatedly.

“You’ve been buried in work at that field hospital all this time. Tessa’s the one who’s been taking care of me, and she’s the one who’s been taking care of your husband!”

“You haven’t done your part at all!”

Pain seized my chest so sharply that I could barely breathe.

My own father was standing there in front of everyone accusing me of neglecting him, all for Tessa—the half sister from my father’s affair who had driven my mother to her death.

My best friend jumped in next. “When some local thugs near the post were harassing me, Tessa stepped in and took a blow meant for me. You were in surgery trying to save a critically wounded soldier and didn’t even answer your phone. Thank God she was there.”

“You really don’t get to treat her like this.”

The most important friend I’d ever had was no longer on my side either.

My brother caught my arm. “Tessa’s been the one looking after Dad and holding things together at home all these years. Can’t you just look the other way?”

The whole thing suddenly felt absurd.

So this was what it felt like to be betrayed by everyone you loved.

“Enough, all of you!” Graham tightened his grip on my shoulders, his eyes red.

“Don’t divorce me. Stop saying things like that.”

“Mara, we only did this because we wanted everyone to get along.”

A bitter, self-mocking smile crossed my face.

Apparently, “everyone” meant them and the person I hated most. It had never included me.

Graham kept trying to persuade me. “Now that you know, why not make peace with Tessa? Then none of us has to hide anymore.”

I backed away step by step, staring at him as if he were a stranger.

Years ago, my father had brought the woman he’d been seeing and her daughter into our home. My mother, devastated and furious, had shot herself.

Graham had held my hand and promised over and over that he would get justice for me. He had sworn he would never become the kind of man my father was.

At her wake, my father and brother cried until they had no tears left.

They spent the rest of the night confessing their guilt until dawn.

It had all been an act.

Tears streamed down my face as I clenched my teeth. “You can all make peace with her if you want. Leave me out of it!”

I didn’t look at any of them again. I turned and headed for the door.

“Mara! Let me explain!” Graham rushed after me and reached for my arm.

A shout suddenly came from the living room.

“Tessa’s blood sugar is crashing again!”

Graham instantly pulled his hand back and rushed inside.

The abrupt movement threw me off balance. I fell backward down two steps and slammed my knee into the stone steps outside the building, splitting it open to the bone.

Blood ran down my leg.

The front door above me stayed shut. Not one of them came back out to look for me.

I forced myself to my feet and limped back to the airport, where I boarded a military transport plane back to the field hospital.

I walked into the personnel office and went straight to Dana Price.

“Dana, I’ve decided to join the peacekeeping medical team. Help me get the paperwork started.”

Dana looked surprised, then teased, “You’re really willing to leave Colonel Mercer behind? That man adores you. Everyone on post knows it.”

I gave her a bitter smile. It all felt so ironic.

Dana filled out the paperwork as we talked. “If your assignment stabilization hadn’t expired, this would’ve been a lot harder.”

My stomach dropped. “What assignment stabilization?”

“Colonel Mercer had the hospital commander arrange an assignment stabilization that kept you at this field hospital. He also got you incentive pay at twice the usual rate and priority consideration for promotion. The condition was that you couldn’t request reassignment outside this regional command.”

“If it hadn’t expired, you couldn’t leave even if you wanted to.”