Chapter 25
The words stopped me.
He knew.
I gripped the phone.
“How?”
“Your doctor’s office called.”
“Why would they call you?”
“Because I’m your husband.”
“Not for much longer.”
“Madeline, come home. We can discuss this privately.”
“Home is not where you send your wife away with divorce papers.”
“I made a mistake.”
The apology sounded rehearsed.
“Which mistake?”
“Ending things so abruptly.”
“No. You made a mistake when you married me without telling me the truth.”
He said nothing.
I continued, “You knew there was evidence of male infertility. You knew doctors had told you not to blame me. You knew about Claire Morgan.”
His breath caught.
Ethan’s attention sharpened.
“How do you know that name?” Ryan asked.
“So she existed.”
“I never said she didn’t.”
“Was she your fiancée?”
“That was before you.”
“Was her child yours?”
“Madeline, this is not a conversation you understand.”
“Answer me.”
He exhaled.
“Yes.”
The word landed with brutal simplicity.
I closed my eyes.
“Where is he?”
“That child has nothing to do with you.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know where your own son is?”
“He was adopted.”
“By whom?”
“I said I don’t know.”
“Your mother knows.”
“That’s enough.”
“No. It isn’t.”
“Stop digging into things that will only hurt you.”
“I have been hurt by your secrets for eleven years.”
His voice lowered.
“You need to come back before this becomes impossible to fix.”
“Nothing about this is mine to fix.”
I ended the call.
My hands were shaking, but I felt strangely calm.
Ethan had heard enough.
“You didn’t tell him about the flash drive,” he said.
“No.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want revenge.”
“I know.”
“I want the truth.”
“Then we’ll find it.”
I looked at him.
“Why say we?”
He did not hesitate.
“Because you should not have to face it alone.”
For the first time, I believed him.
The next morning, I returned to the clinic with Ethan waiting in the lobby. He did not enter the examination room. He did not ask to hear the doctor’s private conversation with me. He simply sat beneath the window with a cup of coffee and a file folder, giving me the dignity Ryan had never offered.
Dr. Patel confirmed the pregnancy was progressing normally.
The relief was so intense that I began to cry.
She handed me a tissue.
“Your baby is measuring exactly where we would expect.”