Chapter 7 - THE HUSBAND HE NEVER EXPECTED
He was not the father.
Ryan was.
Evan sat alone in a hospital corridor holding the report for nearly an hour.
When he confronted Brooke, she finally admitted the truth.
She had never known who the father was.
She had chosen Evan because he had money, stability, and a stronger sense of obligation.
She had believed that if she told him the child was his before the wedding, he would leave me.
She had been right about one thing.
He did.
When Evan returned to his parents’ home that night, his mother did not comfort him the way he expected.
Linda listened.
Then she said, “Brooke lied to you. But Claire didn’t lose you because Brooke lied.”
Evan looked at her.
“You lost Claire because you cheated.”
He had no answer.
Three days later, my phone began ringing.
Unknown number.
Voicemail.
Another number.
Text.
Claire, please. I know the truth now.
Then:
The baby isn’t mine.
Then:
Can we meet?
Then:
I made the worst mistake of my life.
I blocked each number.
The calls continued.
Eventually, one evening while Luke and I were cooking dinner, the phone rang again.
I stared at it.
Luke looked over.
“Him?”
“Yes.”
“How many times now?”
I checked.
“Something like ninety.”
Luke set down the knife.
“Do you want me to answer?”
I considered it.
Then handed him the phone.
He picked up.
“Hello.”
Evan’s voice exploded through the speaker.
“Claire?”
“No.”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
Luke looked at me once before answering.
“My name is Luke Bennett. I’m Claire’s husband.”
The silence that followed was so complete I could hear the refrigerator humming.
“Put her on.”
“No.”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me when you repeatedly call my wife after she has made it clear she doesn’t want contact.”
“Your wife?”
“Yes.”
Evan breathed hard.
“You don’t understand what happened.”
“I understand enough.”
“Put Claire on.”
Luke’s voice remained calm.
“You’ve called nearly ninety times. If she wanted to hear your explanation, she would have answered one of them.”
Evan said something I could not make out.
Luke continued.
“Do not call again.”
Then he ended the call.
He handed me the phone.
“You okay?”
I nodded.
I was.
The next morning, Evan was waiting outside my office.
I saw him through the glass doors.
He looked thinner.
Older.
For one second, the memory of the man I had once loved collided with the person standing there.
I could have walked away.
Instead, I decided I wanted the door closed properly.
“Ten minutes,” I said.
We sat outside a café across from my building.
Evan gripped his coffee with both hands.
“The baby isn’t mine.”
“I know.”
His eyes lifted.
“You know?”
“You sent enough messages.”
“Brooke lied from the beginning.”
“So I heard.”
“She was seeing Ryan the whole time.”
I waited.
He seemed frustrated by my lack of reaction.
“I destroyed everything because of a child that wasn’t even mine.”
There it was.
The story he had come to tell.
I leaned back.
“No.”
He frowned.
“No?”
“You destroyed everything before you knew Brooke was pregnant.”
His mouth tightened.
“That’s not what I mean.”
“It’s exactly what you mean. You want the paternity result to turn you into another victim.”
“I was lied to.”
“Yes.”
“I gave up my wedding for a lie.”
“No, Evan. You cheated on me for the truth.”
May you like
He stared at me.
“The pregnancy was the lie. The affair wasn’t.”
