The Day She Carried My Husband’s Child, I Left That Family Chapter 01

The Day She Carried My Husband’s Child, I Left That Family Chapter 01

After my whole family secretly let my half sister from my father’s affair live with my husband, a high-ranking Army officer, I didn’t cry or make a scene. I took my suitcase and left for South Sudan alone to join a peacekeeping medical team.

I changed my contact information and cut every tie to Capital Region Command.

In a place where life and death were part of every day, the anger and resentment I had carried slowly faded.

I found love again and had a child, and I thought I would never see the people who had betrayed me again.

Then one day, while I was shopping for my daughter’s birthday cake, I ran into my brother and my ex-husband.

One had become a highly decorated senior officer in Capital Region Command; the other, a powerful senior Army officer.

The moment our eyes met, none of us spoke for a long time.

Finally, my brother asked, his voice rough, “I thought you didn’t like sweets.”

I smiled and scooped up the little girl beside me. “My daughter loves them.”

The cake suddenly dropped from Graham Mercer’s hands and crashed to the floor.

His eyes were red, and his voice broke. “Mara, didn’t you say you’d only ever have children with me?”

Back then, Graham and I had been married for seven years, and we had spent six of them living apart.

I’d been banking my leave days so I could make the trip home. When I finally did, I found that the keypad code on our front door had been changed.

I was about to call Graham when my father texted first.

Dad: [Graham’s here having a drink with me. Go walk around the mall for a while.]

Then my phone pinged with a money transfer from my brother and a note.

My brother: [Buy whatever catches your eye. It’s on me. Graham’s drunk, so there’s no need to rush home.]

Even my best friend sent me a voice message.

My best friend: [Your husband weighs a ton. Mine almost collapsed carrying him to bed.]

My mind went blank.

They had no idea that five minutes earlier, the guard at the gate had told me Colonel Mercer had just come home.

***

I didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, I used a lock-picking trick I’d recently learned in the Army and let myself in.

When I pushed it open, Tessa Whitaker, dressed in pajamas, looked straight at me.

The moment our eyes met, I went cold all over.

She was my half sister from my father’s affair—the one who had driven my mother to her death.

My father and brother had once been desperate to see her court-martialed, and my best friend had nearly shot her with her service weapon.

Now she sat in the house Graham and I had bought when we got married, looking healthy and comfortable in her pajamas.

A familiar man’s voice called from inside, “Is that Dad and everyone?”

My stomach dropped.

A second later, Graham walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron.

He froze the moment he saw me, shock flashing in his eyes.

“Mara, you… how did you get in?”

I didn’t answer. My gaze landed on a Maine Coon sleeping soundly in the corner.

That cat was the only thing my mother had left me. Graham had told me it had gotten sick and died.

All this time, the woman who had caused my mother’s death had been the one taking care of it.

Graham immediately pulled off the apron and reached for my hand.

“Mara, let me explain. She had nowhere else to go, so I let her stay here…”

I looked around.

There were two pairs of slippers by the door, two toothbrushes by the sink, and matching travel mugs. Even their pajamas were the same style in different colors.

I hadn’t even taken another step inside, yet everywhere I looked was proof that they’d been living there as a couple.

Just then, I heard someone at the door.

My father walked in carrying Tessa’s favorite barbecue ribs, my brother was holding a bouquet of flowers, and my best friend had a giant teddy bear in her arms.

Every smile vanished the moment they saw me.

“Mara…”

The living room went dead silent.

A hollow laugh escaped me. “So this is what all the lying was for—so you could cover for my half sister from my father’s affair?”

My phone was still full of the messages they had just sent me.

Dad: [Stay home with me tomorrow. I’ll make a whole spread of your favorites!]

My best friend: [I feel like going shopping. Come with me the day after tomorrow.]

My brother: [Mara, come to a concert with me sometime in the next couple of days. My treat!]

At the Army hospital where I was stationed, I was only approved for five days of leave to go home each year. I had raced back to this city to see Graham, unwilling to waste a single minute.

But every time I came back, they filled my days with meals, walks around base housing, and shows on post, doting on me like I was the most precious person in the world.

I thought they simply missed me that much.

In reality, they were only keeping me busy so Graham and Tessa could have the house to themselves.

Tessa burst into tears and hurried toward me.

“Mara, they only did all this behind your back because they felt sorry for me. I had no one else.”

“Please don’t blame them…”

I had once believed they hated Tessa every bit as much as I did.

Now I finally understood.

I had been the one they shut out all along.

The tears finally came.

I swiped them away and looked at Graham, who stood there at a loss.

“Graham, let’s get a divorce.”