Seven Months Pregnant—My Stepsister Called My Baby a Bastard Chapter 09

Seven Months Pregnant—My Stepsister Called My Baby a Bastard Chapter 09

After leaving the hospital, I went to the county courthouse at the first available date.

Because neither of us contested the settlement, the final hearing was brief.

Graham followed every instruction without saying a word.

At the County Clerk’s counter nearby, a young couple was applying for a marriage license.

They wore shy smiles, their eyes bright with hope for the future.

I had once looked exactly like that.

When our marriage certificate arrived, I read it again and again.

Excitement had turned my cheeks red.

Now my face held only the exhaustion life had carved into it.

Graham folded the divorce decree and slipped it into his coat before speaking hesitantly.

“Maren, I never used you as a cover.”

“I truly wanted to spend my life with you.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

My rideshare arrived, and I opened the door.

“This is where our marriage ended, no matter what you intended.”

The car pulled away.

In the rearview mirror, Graham’s motionless figure grew smaller.

After we turned the corner, he finally disappeared from my sight.

The condo sold during its second week on the market.

On moving day, I found boxes of old keepsakes.

There was a bead mosaic Graham and I had made together, along with movie–ticket stubs I once

saved.

I also found the frame Talia had smashed during our fight.

Our shoulders touched in the photograph, and even reserved Graham wore a rare, brilliant smile.

I studied his face for a long time, then dropped the frame into the trash.

After the movers carried away my last bag, I looked around the condo one final time.

I closed the door and locked it.

I was leaving the city where it always seemed to rain.

I was going to my mother’s hometown.

She rested there.