She Was Five Months Pregnant, I Was Three, He Was Hers Chapter 02

She Was Five Months Pregnant, I Was Three, He Was Hers Chapter 02

Just then, an announcement came over the hospital speakers, cutting Odessa off before she could answer.

Thayer looked like he’d finally found an escape. He immediately took her by the arm.

“That’s you. Go get checked out first.”

He guided her toward the exam rooms. After a few steps, Odessa turned back and smiled at me.

“I’m heading in, then. Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime.”

I looked at her.

“Maybe.”

Of course we would.

I just hoped she could still smile like that the next time we met.

I turned and went to the check-in desk.

“Hi. I need to cancel my prenatal appointment.”

The woman behind the desk looked up. “Would you like to schedule something else?”

I was silent for two seconds.

“I need to schedule an abortion.”

She paused, but only briefly. She had probably seen situations like mine plenty of times.

“You’ll need an OB-GYN evaluation first. If everything checks out, they can schedule the procedure after that.”

I took the paperwork from her, my fingertips numb with cold.

Thayer and I had been together since high school.

When we were seventeen, he had handed me a bottle of cold water beside the school field, his ears bright red.

“Maren, I like you.”

I had laughed at how corny he was.

We did long distance through all four years of college, and he called me every night. When he first started his company and had to count every dollar he spent, I gave him everything I had saved.

On our wedding day, he held my hand so tightly, his eyes red.

“Maren, I’ll never make you regret marrying me.”

But people changed.

I tightened my grip on the paperwork and walked out of the hospital.

I had barely made it down the steps when someone grabbed my wrist from behind.

“Maren!”

Thayer sounded slightly out of breath. He had clearly chased after me.

There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and for the first time in a long while, I saw real panic in his eyes.

“It’s not what you think.”

I almost laughed.

“She’s five months pregnant. What exactly is there to explain?”

He still hadn’t let go of my wrist.

“It’s complicated between me and Odessa. When she first started at the company, she didn’t know anything. I was just helping her out. Then she got pregnant by accident.”

“I was going to tell you. But you weren’t doing well at the time, and I was afraid it would be too much for you.”

“So you hid it from me, went to her prenatal appointments, met her family, and promised her a wedding?”

Thayer’s expression stiffened. Then he frowned, irritation creeping into his voice.

“Do you have to put it like that? It already happened. We can sit down and talk this through.”

At that moment, Odessa walked out of the hospital with one hand resting on her belly.

She stopped the second she saw Thayer holding my wrist.

“Thayer.”

Her voice trembled.

“What are you doing?”

Thayer let go of me at once.

Odessa walked closer, her gaze moving between us.

“Why were you holding her hand?”

Thayer quickly went over to steady her.

“Odessa, don’t misunderstand.”

Her eyes immediately turned red.

“Misunderstand what? You told me she was just someone you went to high school with. Would you leave me inside and chase after some old classmate? Would you grab her like that?”

“She was upset,” Thayer explained quietly. “I was worried she might do something.”

I let out a cold laugh. I had no interest in standing there watching the two of them act out some ridiculous misunderstanding.

I turned and left without looking back.

Thayer didn’t call me once that night.

I opened my laptop and started going through the records of everything we had built and owned together over the years.

The more I found, the more bitterly ironic it felt.

During the hardest three years of his startup, I worked my own job during the day and helped him with financial reports at night.

I poured my salary into keeping his company afloat and gave him the money my parents had given us as a wedding gift.

Eventually, his company took off. Everyone praised him for becoming successful so young. And he had used the life I helped him build to support another woman and her child.

At three in the morning, I booked a consultation with a divorce attorney.

Then I sent Thayer a message.

[Come home tomorrow. We need to talk about a divorce.]

There was no reply.

The next morning, I went to work as usual.

What I hadn’t expected was that before I could even deal with Odessa myself, her mother showed up at my office looking for a fight.

At ten that morning, the front desk called me. The receptionist sounded rattled.

“Ms. Winslow, there’s a woman downstairs causing a scene. She says she’s here to see you.”

Before I could answer, a shrill voice erupted on the other end of the line.

“Maren Winslow! Get down here!”

“You shameless homewrecker! You break up someone else’s family and then hide in your fancy office like you’ve done nothing wrong?”

“I’m going to make sure everyone here sees exactly what kind of woman you are!”