"Charles, stop making problems where there aren't any. I never said I wasn't going to have the baby."
Her cold indifference cut right through me.
Sure enough, a few days later, she miscarried.
In that sterile hospital corridor, she leaned against Henry Gray's shoulder and sobbed. I stood a few feet away in the hallway, rooted to the floor like there were needles under my shoes.
Starting from the year before, Elaine had been going out with Mr. Gray every single day.
They never bothered keeping their distance in front of anyone. Every detail from their dinner meetings made its way through the office like clockwork.
"Charles, your wife..."
Even my own supervisor had hinted at it more than a few times. But I always chose to believe Elaine.
Ten years together. I refused to believe she would do something like that to me.
So I kept making excuses for her. Covering for her.
But that scene at the hospital planted a seed of doubt I couldn't ignore.
"Charles, this one's on me."
"I had no idea Elaine was pregnant. If I'd known, I never would've let her sit at the table."
To show his remorse, Henry Gray handed Elaine a check for ten thousand dollars on the spot.
I pressed my lips together and said nothing.
"Charles, I'm sorry."
"I really didn't know this would happen."
I lifted my head, perfectly calm, and asked her one question. "Elaine, can you stop drinking?"
Her face was chalk white. She tugged at the hem of my sleeve and said, "Charles, I promise I'll be more careful from now on."
She said she'd be more careful. Not that she'd stop.
After that, the baby became a topic neither of us dared to bring up.
"Charles, you think I don't want a child?"
"If I didn't want one, why would I have agreed to do IVF with you?"
That one actually made me laugh.
"Elaine, when did you ever show up?"
"Every single time, you either said something came up and you couldn't make it, or you'd check in and then leave before anything started."
IVF had been Elaine's idea. She said she wanted an efficient path to pregnancy.
But aside from the very first consultation, where she filled out the paperwork and paid the deposit, she never went back. Not once.
If she hadn't brought it up, I would have almost forgotten.
"So now you're dredging up ancient history?!"
"Fine! You want a divorce? You got one!"