On Halloween, My Husband Chose Her Family Over Ours novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Red Suit
At her Halloween party Hannah watches Derek walk in with her friend Colleen and Colleen's daughter and call them his real family; she throws him out in front of every guest, and Maddie tells her what Daddy promised.
At seven o'clock on Halloween, my husband walked into our living room dressed as Mr. Incredible, the foam chest padding slipping crooked, and winked at our daughter.
The woman on his arm wore the same red suit I had on.
The girl beside them was not our daughter.
I stood ten feet away, seven months pregnant, in a red stretch suit with a black mask pushed up on my forehead.
My husband and I had picked the costumes together in September.
He was the dad, I was the mom, our daughter was the girl in purple, and my belly was the baby.
Our daughter stood next to me in her purple and black suit.
I had spent half an hour painting her mask on with a fine brush, because she wanted the shape to be exact.
She had talked about this party for two weeks.
Forty people stood around us with paper cups in their hands.
My friend Colleen had helped me set up since noon.
She was the nurse at our daughter's school, she had come in through the garage, typed the door code without asking, and gone straight to the kitchen.
"Sit," she had said, taking the tray of cupcakes from me. "You've been on your feet since breakfast."
She had hung the paper bats and stirred the punch.
At five she had held out her phone to show me a text.
"Derek says he's stuck in traffic. He told me to tell you not to wait on him."
I had checked my own phone.
His message to me said: Running late. Start without me. Nothing to worry about, love you.
I believed both of them.
At six-thirty Colleen had left in her witch hat to pick up Lily from the sitter.
Now Colleen stood in the doorway in a red suit, with her blonde ponytail pulled high, holding my husband's elbow.
Her daughter Lily was in a red Dash costume beside her, staring at the carpet.
Derek tapped a plastic cup with a spoon.
"Everybody," he said. "I want you to meet my family."
Nobody moved.
A woman by the fireplace lifted her phone and started recording.
"This is Colleen and Lily," Derek said. "I'm done pretending. This is who I'm choosing."
Colleen did not look at me.
She squeezed his arm and said quietly, "Derek, maybe not here."
He did not answer her.
He looked at me.
"Hannah," he said, "please don't make this ugly in front of Maddie."
My daughter's hand closed around two of my fingers.
I looked at the people in my living room.
My neighbors were there, and the other art teachers, and my brother by the kitchen door with his arms crossed.
Every one of them was waiting to see what I would do.
I could have cried.
I could have asked him why, or begged him to come into the kitchen and talk.
That was what he expected, and I could see it in his face.
So I pulled the mask off my forehead and put it on the side table.
"Everyone," I said, "thank you for coming. The party's over."
Nobody laughed.
"Derek, you and your guests have one minute to leave my house."
"Hannah."
"It's my house, Derek. My grandmother left it to me. Your name isn't on the deed."
My brother crossed the room and opened the front door.
Cold air came in over the porch.
The guests set down their cups and started to leave, quietly, filing past the pumpkins.
Derek's face went red under the plastic muscles.
His phone buzzed in the pocket of his costume.
He pulled it out and the screen lit up.
I was near enough to read the banner across the top: Delmar Labs: Your results are ready.
He looked at it for a long moment.
He swiped it away without opening it, looked again, and put it back in his pocket.
"Fine," he said. "This isn't over."
"It is for tonight."
Colleen touched my sleeve as she passed.
"Hannah, honey, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I never wanted it to be like this. Call me tomorrow, and we'll fix it."
I took my arm back.
She took Lily's hand and left, and Lily looked at Maddie over her shoulder the whole way down the steps.
The last guest was my brother, and he stood on the porch until the three of them had driven away.
Then he came back inside and locked the door.
"I'll change the locks first thing," he said.
"Thank you."
"Hannah, you did good."
I did not feel like I'd done anything good.
I felt the baby kick, hard, under the red fabric.
I sat down on the stairs, because my knees would not hold me.
Maddie climbed onto the step beside me and pulled off her mask.
The paint had smudged around her eyes.
"Mommy," she said, in a small, careful voice. "Daddy told me something last week, and he said not to tell you."
"What did he say, baby?"
"He said after the baby comes, I'm going to live at Lily's house."
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