She Was Five Months Pregnant, I Was Three, He Was Hers Chapter 08

She Was Five Months Pregnant, I Was Three, He Was Hers Chapter 08

Just as I expected, Thayer refused to agree to the divorce.

He started showing up everywhere–outside my office, outside my home, even outside my mother’s

neighborhood.

I never agreed to see him.

During that time, I went through with the procedure.

The doctor looked at me.

“Are you sure?”

I closed my eyes.

“Yes.”

This baby shouldn’t have to be born into lies and betrayal.

I knew I would never be able to look at my child without thinking of Thayer. And I couldn’t bring a baby into the world only to grow up in a family that had already been torn apart.

When Mrs. Bellamy found out about the abortion, she called me immediately.

“Maren, how could you be so heartless?”

“That was Thayer’s child!”

“What gave you the right to make that decision by yourself?”

I listened until she finished.

Then I said calmly, “Because it was my body, and it was my decision.”

“And because Thayer doesn’t deserve to be a father.”

Mrs. Bellamy exploded. She called me cruel and heartless and told me I would regret it one day.

I hung up and blocked her number.

That night, Thayer sent me two messages.

[Maren, I know the baby is gone.]

[I’m sorry. I’ll sign the papers.]

Three days later, we met at my attorney’s office.

Thayer had lost a lot of weight. Dark stubble covered his jaw, and he looked nothing like the confident CEO

he used to be.

He pushed the signed divorce agreement across the table.

“The house, the cars, the savings, and most of my shares in the company. You can have them.”

I looked it over.

It was more than even my attorney had expected.

“Okay. I’ll take it.”

Thayer was silent for a long time.

Then he asked hoarsely, “Who took you to the hospital on September 15?”

I paused.

Then I suddenly laughed.

Thayer looked at me, pain and jealousy surfacing in his eyes.

“You didn’t call me that day. You didn’t call your parents either.”

“You said someone took you to the hospital.”

“Who was it?”

Looking at him now, I only found him pathetic.

He had betrayed me completely, yet he was still torturing himself over someone who had never even existed.

“An ambulance,” I said quietly.

Thayer froze.

I smiled at him.

“What did you think? That I was unfaithful too?”

All the color drained from his face.

I stood and picked up the agreement.

“Thayer, you always assumed there had to be someone else in my life.”

“But you forgot something.”

“For the past ten years, there was only ever you.”

Then I turned and walked away.

A month later, the divorce was finalized.

I was single again.

More importantly, I finally felt like Maren Winslow again.

I had always been good at my job. But for years, I had turned down assignments that would take me away

for too long and avoided extended business travel because I was afraid it would hurt my marriage.

Now there was nothing left to be afraid of.

A position had opened up on our international business team, and my manager asked if I would be willing to

move abroad and help develop a new market.

I accepted without hesitation.

Before I left, I heard that Odessa was still fighting with Thayer.

She couldn’t accept that two years of her life and the baby she had lost had all been for nothing.

She kept showing up at Bellamy Ventures to confront him.

Mrs. Larkin went even further. She protested outside his office with signs, contacted local media, and

showed up at client events accusing Thayer of lying to her daughter about being single and leaving her

pregnant.

Bellamy Ventures lost several major clients because of the scandal.

Mrs. Bellamy tried to settle things with money, but the Larkins demanded far more than she was willing to

pay.

The two families kept tearing into each other.

Someone asked me if watching all of that felt satisfying.

I thought about it.

“Not really.”

They had nothing to do with me anymore.

Six months later, I had settled into my new life abroad.

I had also made a new friend. His name was Ansel Rooke, legal counsel for one of our business partners.

The first time we met, he had marked every potential risk in our contract with almost ridiculous precision.

I teased him for being so thorough.

He adjusted his glasses.

“Habit. I don’t like seeing people around me get taken advantage of.”

Later, he asked me to go to a concert with him. He had gotten the tickets three months in advance.

That day, I asked him, “What if I get sick at the last minute and can’t go?”

He looked at me seriously.

“Then we don’t go.”

“There’ll be other concerts.”

“There’s only one you.”

The sea breeze brushed past me.

For some reason, I thought of September 15, so long ago.

The night I had a fever of 104 and called more than ten times without getting a single answer.

Back then, I had thought I would never get past it.

But people really did move on.

Old wounds closed.

Rotten relationships could be cut away.

And eventually, something new could grow in the space they left behind.

A year later, I came back home for a work review.

At the airport, I saw Thayer from a distance.

He was much thinner than before, dressed in a black coat and standing beyond the crowd, watching me.

Beside me, Ansel asked quietly, “Know him?”

I glanced at Thayer. He looked like he wanted to come over, but in the end, he stayed where he was.

I turned away and slipped my arm through Ansel’s.

“No.”

Thayer stood frozen in the crowd, his face slowly losing color. I didn’t look back.

I had a new career, a new city, a new love, and the courage to love myself again.

As for Thayer Bellamy, he was nothing more than a late rainstorm from my youth. It had soaked me once.

But the sky had cleared.