Eight Years Of Love, A Wedding Ring For Another Woman Chapter 01

Eight Years Of Love, A Wedding Ring For Another Woman Chapter 01

I had just gotten the ultrasound printout from my prenatal appointment when Ethan suddenly said, “Claire, there’s something important I need to tell you.”

My heart skipped, and my hand instinctively went to my stomach. I thought he was finally about to propose.

“I already got married. To someone else.”

I froze, and the ultrasound report slipped from my fingers.

“What did you just say?”

Ethan hurried to pull me into his arms.

“Our families arranged it. It’s a marriage in name only.”

“As long as you don’t make this ugly, I can give you anything except marriage.”

“Trust me, you and the baby are my real family.”

I pushed him away, my voice calm.

“Ethan Carter, we’re done. And I’m ending this pregnancy.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

Ethan’s voice exploded through the hallway as he grabbed my wrist so hard it felt like he was crushing bone.

The eyes I had looked into for eight years were locked on me now, full of disbelief.

“That’s my child! Who the hell are you to decide, all by yourself, that you’re ending it?”

I tried to shake him off, but he would not let go.

“Your child? Ethan, you’re married. If you want a baby so badly, go have one with your wife.”

“Claire, stop this.”

“I’m not making a scene.”

He stared at me, and to my surprise, his eyes had actually reddened.

“What is it you want that I can’t give you?”

“Cars, a house, money-name your price. Other than a marriage certificate, I can give you anything.”

I looked at him.

Eight years ago, he had stopped me outside the library holding a crumpled bouquet of roses, telling me he had been in love with me for three years.

Eight years later, he was standing in a hospital hallway telling me he could give me anything except a marriage certificate.

“Ethan.” I heard how calm my own voice sounded. “I’ve never been the other woman a day in my life, and I’m not about to start with you.”

His expression changed.

“Who are you calling the other woman?”

“Me.”

That shut him up.

“As long as I keep this baby, that’s exactly what I am.”

“In your parents’ eyes, I’m the other woman. In her parents’ eyes, I’m the other woman. And one day when this child asks me, ‘Mom, why aren’t you Dad’s wife,’ what am I supposed to say?”

He stayed silent for a long time, so long that the nurse down the hall leaned out to look over again.

Then he lifted his head. The look in his eyes was no longer anger or pain. It was something colder, something unfamiliar.

“Claire Bennett, if you abort this baby, then we’re really over.”

“We were already over.”

“It ended the day you married someone else.”

He took a step toward me, but I did not back away.

“Do you think your dad’s project stayed afloat on its own?”

My heart dropped.

“What did you mean by that?”

He did not answer, but I understood the look in his eyes.

I turned and walked toward the exam room.

He shouted after me. “Claire Bennett!”

I did not stop.

“Stop right there!”

I pushed open the door to the exam room. A woman doctor sat inside writing up a chart. She looked up at me.

“Can I help you?”

“I want an abortion. Can it be done today?”

She glanced past me.

Ethan was standing in the doorway, not coming in. His face had gone white as paper.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. Then I’d like to make one now.”

She flipped through her schedule. “We’re fully booked today. The earliest opening is three days from now.”

“Then book me for three days from now.”

She looked at me, then at the man in the doorway. She said nothing else and lowered her head to fill out the paperwork.

I took the paper and turned around.

Ethan was still standing there, staring at the appointment slip in my hand like it was something he could not bear to touch.

“Claire…”

I walked past him and stepped back into the hallway.

Sunlight poured through the windows and fell across the floor in bright squares.

Three days later, I would come back. And by then, there would be nothing left.