I stared at my phone screen like it owed me answers.
It had been two hours since I called.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFN1qFNFj9
Five days since my lawyer updated me about Carla's restraining order being lifted.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGpyiwdvhP
And nearly three months since I walked away from the only woman who ever made me believe in a future again.
I couldn't breathe.
She was showing now.
I'd seen it in a photo my mother secretly sent me—Jaimie in a gray maternity dress, soft roundness beneath her hands, her eyes a little tired but still glowing with something divine.
My son was in that photo, too—Max, grinning wide, holding a stuffed bear.
It killed me.
Because they weren't mine anymore.
At least, not the way they had been.
I called my parents again.
My mom picked up on the second ring. "Tedd."
Her voice had that careful tone. Guarded. Like she knew what I was about to ask before I even said it.
"How is she?" I asked.
Silence.
Then, "Pregnancy is progressing. She's taking her vitamins again. She doesn't talk much, though. Only to Max. And... EJ."
My throat closed.
"EJ?" I asked, barely able to keep the bitterness from my voice.
"He's been around a lot. Helping out. Bought her some baby clothes last week. Said it was from both of them. She didn't correct him."
I sat down, hard.
A part of me wanted to laugh at the absurdity.
The same man who waited in the wings all these years.
Of course he saw an opening.
Of course he took it.
And I had no one to blame but myself.
I covered my face with my hands.
A sob broke out of me before I could stop it.
This was the kind of pain that rotted from the inside out.
I should've been there.
Holding her hair back when she threw up.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBQeovHYxs
Massaging her back.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7JMlo8Nwo
Rubbing her swollen feet.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2Giz7PL2Y
Arguing over names.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphwL5M8wLu
Talking to her belly like a madman just to feel close.
Instead, I was here, hundreds of kilometers away, hiding from a woman who should've been locked in a cage long ago.
Carla.
She had upped her game.
From emails to anonymous calls.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjV0mNNpu2C
From threats to veiled warnings about Max.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn6paztmSc
From verbal abuse to photos she sent to my inbox—of Jaimie.
At the pharmacy.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7U8BoLqlwK
At the doctor's clinic.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56ArI0JduR
Walking alone.
She had eyes on her.
And I couldn't breathe knowing she was being watched—and I wasn't there to shield her.
I pulled out my phone again and opened the draft of the message I'd rewritten a dozen times:
Jaimie... I'm sorry. I left to protect you, but I was wrong. I should've stayed. I should've fought beside you. Not behind your back. Please let me come home.
But I never sent it.
Because even apologies felt like they weren't enough anymore.
Not when another man was in the picture.
Not when I had abandoned her once already.
I called my father next.
He sounded tired. "What now, son?"
"I'm coming back," I said.
His silence was all the confirmation I needed.
"I don't care what Carla does anymore. I'll face her. I'll face the court. I'll face whatever demons crawl out of her mind."
"She's not done yet," he warned me. "She has lawyers. Contacts. She could twist this in a second."
"I know."
"Then why—?"
"Because," I said, standing slowly, "I love her more than I fear Carla. And that child... is mine."
13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki3WUIQxCO
