I accepted his care without protest.
He cooked me elaborate, nutritious meals.
He sat by my bed, reading me different bedtime
stories every night.
He begged for my forgiveness, over and over.
But 77 disappointments had worn me down. I
couldn’t trust him anymore.
I’d held on, giving him 77 chances, because I
loved him.
Now, that love was gone. All I wanted was to
leave.
Ethan’s phone rang constantly. I knew it was Ashley. When she couldn’t reach him, she
10:44
bombarded him with messages.
G2
“Ethan, I don’t feel well. Can you take me to the
hospital?”
“Ethan, Zach misses you. Can you come see
him?”
“Ethan, the lights are out again. Zach and I are
scared. Can you fix them?”
I looked at the messages and scoffed. Ethan
seemed bothered by my reaction. He grabbed
his phone and deleted all of Ashley’s contact
information.
I saw the countless missed calls and unread
messages.
All because I’d lost the baby.
But how long would the memory of a lost child
keep him away? A month? Two months?
<
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62
Ashley was still there. Zach was still there. The
root of the problem hadn’t gone away.
He might refuse once, twice. But eventually,
could he really ignore them, turn his back on
them completely?
I didn’t think so. Ethan’s sudden coldness made
Ashley desperate. She even showed up at our
house, under the pretense of visiting me.
Ethan looked at her warily. Tears welled up in
her eyes. “Did Anna say something? I don’t
understand. What did I do wrong? Why are you
treating me like this?”
Ethan shrugged her hand off his arm. “You and
Zach have nothing to do with us. I helped you
before, but I don’t have to anymore. It’s that
simple.”
Zach tugged at Ethan’s shirt. “Daddy, don’t you want us anymore?”
Ethan couldn’t bring himself to be harsh with
the child he’d helped raise. He simply patted
Zach’s head.
“Zach, I’m your uncle. You have your own dad.
And I’ll have my own kids someday, okay?
You’re a big boy now. You need to take care of
your mom.”
Zach looked at him pleadingly, pulling him.
towards the door. Ethan shot me a helpless
look, then reluctantly followed Zach into the
living room.
As soon as he was gone, Ashley’s tears dried
- up. She folded her arms, looking down at me.
“Why are you still clinging to Ethan? Ethan and
I grew up together. You can’t compete with
that. You saw it yourself. He can’t say no to
Zach. He’ll leave you and come back to me
eventually.”
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2405
62
I smiled faintly. “I asked for the divorce. He’s
the one trying to save the marriage. I can’t help it if he wants me to stay.”
Ashley was speechless, then furious. “Just you wait!” She turned, put on a pitiful expression, and took Zach’s hand. “Ethan, take good care of Anna. We won’t bother you any longer.”
After they left, Ethan looked at me awkwardly.
“Zach’s just a kid. I can’t just abandon him…”
I interrupted him. “Ethan, when the doctor told
me I’d lost the baby, I felt more relief than
grief.”
