Chapter 1 - What Fell From Her Dress
The object landed on the polished dining room floor with a soft, unnatural thud.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Nathan stared at it as though his mind refused to understand what his eyes were seeing.
It was flesh-colored.
Soft.
Curved.
And shaped exactly like the stomach Vanessa had been carrying beneath her dresses for weeks.
Ethan slowly bent down.
He did not touch it immediately.
Vanessa backed toward the wall.
Her face had gone completely white.
Nathan finally looked at her.
“What is that?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Nathan pointed toward the object on the floor.
“I asked you a question.”
“It isn’t what you think.”
Ethan gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
“Then explain it.”
Vanessa pressed both hands against the front of her now-flat dress.
Nathan noticed.
His breathing stopped.
There was no stomach anymore.
No baby bump.
Nothing.
He remembered touching that stomach at night.
He remembered whispering goodnight to the child he believed was growing inside his wife.
He remembered standing alone in a baby store, holding a pair of tiny blue socks and wondering whether he was finally ready to become a father.
His knees almost gave out.
“You weren’t pregnant?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“Nathan, please.”
“You weren’t pregnant?”
Her silence answered him.
Nathan stumbled backward and hit the edge of the dining table.
A wineglass tipped over.
Red wine spread across the white tablecloth.
No one reached for it.
Ethan picked up the small metal pin that had come loose from Vanessa’s dress.
“That was holding the prosthetic in place.”
Vanessa glared at him.
“You’ve been waiting for this.”
“I’ve been waiting for the truth.”
Nathan looked from Ethan to Vanessa.
“How long?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“We can talk privately.”
“How long have you been lying to me?”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
She swallowed.
“Soon.”
Nathan laughed once.
It was the kind of laugh that came from disbelief rather than humor.
“You let me buy a crib.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“You let me tell my mother she was going to be a grandmother.”
“I know.”
“You let me choose names.”
“Nathan—”
“You watched me talk to something that wasn’t there.”
Vanessa suddenly raised her voice.
“I had a reason.”
The room became still again.
Ethan stepped between them.
“Then tell him.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
Fear disappeared.
Something colder replaced it.
She looked directly at Ethan.
“You really want me to tell him everything?”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Nathan noticed.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa wiped her tears.
Then she looked at her husband.
“The pregnancy isn’t the only thing your brother has been hiding from you.”
May you like
Nathan slowly turned toward Ethan.
And for the first time that evening, Ethan looked worried.
