Hah. She even started to kneel.
But Dad caught her and turned on me, his face twisted with anger.
“Presley! We’ve always been patient with you—because of your health, we’ve given in to you over and over. But look at you now! So spoiled, so heartless!
“You want to blame Blairie for the loss of your baby? Fine. But sweetie, she’s been punished. She was like half-dead in the hospital bed for a year!
“If it weren’t for Orville finding every specialist he could, your sister wouldn’t even be alive. And now she’s lost her memory.
“Isn’t that enough? Do you really have to keep torturing her?”
I stood there frozen, staring at the man I once called Dad.
The same man who used to call me his precious little princess.
The dad who swore he’d skin anyone alive who dared hurt me.
The man who held my hand when I miscarried… who cooked for me… who said, “I should’ve never trusted that girl!”
Back then, if Blaire had still been alive?
He’d have killed her himself.
‘So when did he start wishing she’d survived? When did he start giving a damn about that fucking bitch?!’
Orville must’ve seen me zoning out because I felt his hand gently reached for mine.
“Presley, can you stop already? We’re doing this for your own good. Besides, Blaire’s still a McDowell. And what’s done is done. Wouldn’t it be better if we all just lived peacefully together?”
I stared at the man I had loved for 20 freaking years.
‘Live peacefully? Together?! What the hell is he planning?!
‘What, he gets to enjoy two women? Me as the dutiful wife, and Blaire as his charming mistress? Or maybe he wants no labels at all. Just two women under one roof, worshipping him like some divine gift to womankind?’
I opened my mouth, only to find that my voice had become unbearably hoarse.
“Orville… are you saying our baby died for nothing? And now you want me to share my husband with the woman who killed our baby?!”
Before I could even finish, he cut me off—annoyed.
“Presley, it’s in the past. The baby’s gone. Talking about it now won’t change anything.
“That baby just… didn’t make it. He wasn’t strong enough to live. That’s not on anyone.”
I had never seen him like this. Cold. Unbothered. Like it was just some small thing that happened.
That baby was our first! We picked his name together! We used to talk about what he might look like. Maybe he'd have thick eyebrows like his dad’s and almond eyes like mine!