After dinner, he took me through one boutique after another, swiping his card every time my eyes lingered on something for more than a second. Shoes, bags, dresses... it didn’t matter. “Whatever you want, baby,” he kept saying.
By the time night fell, we were standing by the river. Fireworks shot up into the sky, bursting into shapes and letters. Bright red sparks spelled out I LOVE YOU. It should’ve been breathtaking. It should’ve felt like a dream.
“Do you like it?” he whispered against my hair, wrapping his arms tight around me from behind. “I planned everything. Just for you.”
I stared at the colors blazing in the dark. For a second, I almost slipped back into the past—the early days, when his love felt so big it filled every room, when I thought I was the happiest woman alive. But then my hand drifted to my belly, flat and empty, and it all cracked apart.
He felt me stiffen. His arms loosened. “Rosie… what’s wrong?” He turned me around, holding my face, “You’ve been so quiet lately. I’m scared for you.”
His thumb brushed my cheek, “Maybe you should see someone. A therapist. Pregnancy depression happens, you know. You don’t have to handle it alone. Tell me what’s on your mind. I’ll listen.”
I stared into those warm, lying eyes. Eyes that had carried another woman’s name while looking at me. “If I tell you something… will you be honest with me? Completely honest?”
He blinked, then smiled that soft, practiced smile. “Of course, baby. You’re my wife. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
I took a slow breath, feeling my fingers curl into fists at my sides. “I heard about someone,” I said quietly. “A woman you loved before me. A woman you never really let go of.”
My eyes locked onto his. “Have you let her go now?”
He froze. Didn’t even breathe. And in that pause, I already knew the answer.
His hand went stiff, the veins in his knuckles showing white. But in the next breath, he forced a soft smile, pretending calm like nothing had happened.
“Of course I’ve moved on,” he said smoothly. “That was years ago. We broke up and never spoke again. She’s part of my past now.”
My throat went dry. He said it so easily… no pause, no flicker of guilt. Just another lie dressed up like the truth.
When he reached out to touch my cheek, I turned my head away. It was automatic, but it made something dark flash across his face.
“Who told you that? Is that what’s been bothering you?”