Her Husband's Other Life novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Story Hour

Story hour was in ten minutes, and the lobby was full.

Mothers sat on the benches with strollers and juice cups.

Two toddlers were racing around the return cart.

The librarian at the desk looked at me over Sabrina's shoulder and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

"Cora!" Sabrina said, and opened her arms.

I stopped three feet away.

She was in a cream dress and low heels, with her auburn hair loose and no veil.

She looked kind, and that was the worst part.

"We came to apologize," she said, in a voice that carried to the benches. "I feel just terrible about all of it."

"Cora, please," Ross said. He had the face he used for clients who were about to cry.

"I brought you something," Sabrina said.

She lifted the lid of the bakery box.

Six cupcakes sat inside, each with pink icing and a little white fondant bootie on top.

Across the lid of the box, in curly sugar script, it said: Congratulations, Mama!

Every mother in the lobby looked at the box and then at my waist.

"Ross told me the wonderful news," Sabrina said. "After all those years of trying. I couldn't be happier for you."

Somebody on the bench whispered, "Oh, honey."

I understood exactly what she was doing.

She was saying it loud enough that I would look cruel for what came next.

She was announcing my pregnancy to the whole room, and she was announcing that I had hidden it from my husband.

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