I Believed His Noble Excuse For IVF, Only To Uncover His Secret Affair Chapter 01

I Believed His Noble Excuse For IVF, Only To Uncover His Secret Affair Chapter 01

On our wedding night, my husband, Julian Shaw, told me he wanted to have a baby with his mentor’s daughter, Ruby Coleman.

When I called him on it, he turned it around on me.

“Mrs. Coleman is dying, and the only thing she wants is three generations under one roof. Ruby and I would be doing IVF. Nothing would actually happen between us!”

“Besides, she was your teacher too. How can you not want to give her this one thing?”

But the next day, I brought a fruit basket to the hospital to visit Kath Coleman, and I found my husband and Ruby in a private moment around the corner.

It hit me like a live wire, and I turned around and walked away.

The day after that, my husband texted me. Julian: [Ruby and I are going in for the IVF. Push the hometown reception back a few days.]

I didn’t answer. I went home alone and knocked on every relative’s door to apologize.

Then I found a lawyer. “I want to take my husband to court.”

*****

On the day of the reception, Julian never showed up.

I held back the tears and went house to house with my parents to apologize.

Meanwhile, back home, the husband who had skipped the reception his wife’s family had thrown was treating her relatives like they were beneath him—and somehow, they were the ones left humiliated.

I had gone over that with Julian more than once before the wedding, and he had sworn he would never miss it.

And now this.

My parents seemed to have aged overnight. They stood there with their backs bent, explaining it to people.

“We’re so sorry. Something came up for our son in law at the last minute and he couldn’t get away. Next time he’s home he’ll come apologize in person.”

The relatives didn’t look happy about it, but my parents were sincere enough that most of them said they understood.

Only my uncles blew up.

“That kid! What’s more important than this? Does he have no sense of what matters? All that education went straight down the drain!”

“Come on, we’re driving to Chicago right now to talk to his parents. I want to know how they raised him!”

They got angrier as they went, and the table shook under their hands.

My youngest uncle’s face went gray, and he pulled out his phone to book a flight right there.

I stopped him fast.

“Don’t. It isn’t worth it.”

A minute earlier, I had seen Ruby’s new post.

Ruby: [Doing everything I can to give my mom what she wants. Praying for a miracle.]

Julian had commented under it.

Julian: [Hugs. I’m right here with you.]

His heart was completely with her, and there was nothing left for me.

You can force someone to do something, but you can’t force their heart.

Even if my uncles had dragged him to that reception, it might not have been better than his absence.

It took my parents and me two full days to get through every relative.

My parents wiped their eyes and said they couldn’t understand what they’d done to deserve this at their age.

My own eyes went hot.

I sent Julian two messages: [The reception is over. The relatives are furious, and my parents can’t hold their heads up.]

Then I sent: [If you come now, there’s still something to salvage.]

The messages went unanswered, and a whole night passed.

I didn’t sleep. I held that phone until my nails were close to cracking.

Julian could hurt me all he wanted, but he had no right to humiliate the two people who had treated him like their own son.

The next morning, I got up early and went to a law firm, where I asked for their best divorce attorney.

I laid out my situation and told her what I wanted.

“I want to press bigamy charges against my husband, and I want him to walk away with nothing.”

The lawyer didn’t look surprised. She had handled enough cases that nothing seemed strange to her anymore.

“Ma’am, for a bigamy charge we’d need evidence that your husband either registered a second marriage or has been living as somebody’s spouse.”

That was when Ruby’s video call came in.

The background was a hospital hallway, and her eyes were wet, and her face was lit up with something she couldn’t hide.

“Elena, it worked! The transfer worked! I’m pregnant with Julian’s baby!”