On Our Fourth Anniversary, My Husband Posed for Maternity Photos with Another Woman novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Racine

Leah moves in with her aunt Fran, and Rupert waits at her work with flowers, followed by a divorce petition that says she cannot bear children.

My aunt Fran opened her front door in Racine at two in the morning holding a casserole dish.

It was a heavy glass one, with a lid, and she held it up by the handles.

"It's me," I said.

She looked at my face, then at the two suitcases, and lowered the dish.

"Is he with you?"

"No."

"Did he lay a hand on you?"

"No. He's seeing someone. She's pregnant."

Fran set the casserole dish on the hall table with great care.

"Then I'll only need this later," she said. "Come in. I'll make eggs."

I didn't tell her about my own baby.

I had meant to say it at the kitchen table, but she put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me and said, "Eat, you look green," and I couldn't make my mouth do it.

I told myself I would tell her when I could say it without crying.

I slept in my old room under the quilt my mother had made, with the carton of vials still in my trunk.

On Monday morning I was sick in the bathroom at six, and again at seven.

Fran stood outside the door and asked if I needed a ginger ale.

"It's just nerves," I said.

"Mm," said Fran.

I drove the forty minutes north to Milwaukee, because I had a nine o'clock patient and nobody to cover for me.

The dental office sits on Brady Street between a coffee shop and a photography studio.

I parked in the back lot and went in through the staff door at ten to nine.

Our receptionist met me in the hallway with her eyes very wide.

"Leah," she whispered, "your husband is in the waiting room."

I looked through the glass.

Rupert stood in the middle of the room in a fresh navy suit, holding a huge bouquet of white roses.

Six patients sat around him with their magazines open, and none of them were reading.

When he saw me his whole face softened, and he started toward the hallway.

"Leah. Sweetheart. I didn't sleep. Can we please talk?"

"I'm working," I said.

"I know, I know. I'll wait." He raised his voice slightly, so that the room could hear it. "I'll wait all day if I have to. I made a terrible mistake, and I want everyone to know I'm sorry."

He held out the roses.

I understood what this was.

Rupert had never in his life apologized to me in front of anyone.

He was putting on a show, and the audience was my patients and my boss.

If I took the roses, I forgave him. If I refused them, I was the cold wife who turned away an apology in public.

A woman in the third chair was watching him with her hand pressed to her chest.

I walked across the waiting room, took the roses, and turned to her.

"Ma'am," I said to the woman in the third chair, "these are for you. Happy Monday."

She took them with both hands, delighted.

"Leah," said Rupert.

"I'm at work," I said. "You're welcome to leave any time, and you're not welcome to stay."

Somebody in the corner made a very small noise that might have been a laugh.

Rupert's face went tight for a second, and then it went mild again.

"I'll be at the house," he said. "Whenever you're ready."

He walked out, and the roses went home with the woman in the third chair.

My hands were shaking, so I washed them twice and went back to my first patient.

I got through four cleanings before lunch, and two more before three.

At ten past three, the receptionist put her head around the door of my operatory.

"There's a courier here for you," she said. "He needs a signature."

I peeled off my gloves and went to the front desk.

The courier was a boy in a bike helmet, holding a thick manila envelope.

I signed the screen, and he left.

The return address was a law office on Wisconsin Avenue.

I tore the envelope open standing at the desk, with my next patient waiting on a chair.

The first page was a petition for divorce, filed that morning.

Under the grounds, in the plain black type of a form, a lawyer had written two reasons.

The first was that I had abandoned the marital home.

The second was that I was medically unable to bear children.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend