Chapter 3 - THE BABY CAME BEFORE ROMAN COULD FIND US
The first contraction came at 4:17 in the afternoon.
I was standing in Margaret's sister's kitchen when my entire stomach tightened.
I froze.
Margaret looked up immediately.
“What happened?”
“I think…”
Another contraction hit.
I grabbed the edge of the counter.
Margaret was already reaching for her coat.
“No.”
She pointed toward me.
“Yes.”
“It's too early.”
“You're eight and a half months pregnant.”
“That isn't exactly reassuring.”
“Hospital.”
I tried to laugh.
Instead, another contraction stole my breath.
We left ten minutes later.
The snow had become heavier.
Margaret drove while I sat in the passenger seat with both hands beneath my stomach.
Every few minutes, my phone lit up.
Roman.
I had not told him where we were.
I didn't know how he knew.
Maybe he had people following us.
Maybe hospitals had already been notified.
Maybe he simply knew me well enough to know I would go somewhere safe.
I ignored the calls.
At the hospital, the doctor examined me.
Then smiled.
“Well.”
“What?”
“Your daughter has decided she isn't waiting.”
My heart stopped.
“She is coming?”
“Yes.”
“How soon?”
The doctor looked at the monitor.
“Very soon.”
Fear rushed through me.
Not because I didn't want her.
I had wanted her every second of every day.
I was terrified because I had imagined Roman beside me.
His hand in mine.
His voice telling me to breathe.
His eyes filling with tears when he heard her cry.
Now I would do it without him.
Maybe that was exactly what I needed.
The labor lasted eleven hours.
At 3:42 on Christmas morning, I heard a cry.
A loud, furious, beautiful cry.
My daughter.
The nurse placed her against my chest.
I stared down at her.
She had a tiny nose.
Dark hair.
A furious little expression.
“Hello,” I whispered.
Her fingers curled around mine.
“I'm your mommy.”
Tears blurred my vision.
Margaret stood near the bed crying.
“She is perfect.”
I kissed my daughter's forehead.
“Yes.”
“She has his chin.”
I smiled sadly.
“She has everything she needs.”
A few hours later, my phone buzzed.
Roman.
I stared at the screen.
Then I answered.
His voice came immediately.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“The baby?”
“She is here.”
Silence.
Then I heard him breathe.
“Is she okay?”
“She is perfect.”
“What did you name her?”
I looked down.
“Evelyn.”
Roman was quiet.
“Evelyn what?”
I hesitated.
“Evelyn Claire Carter.”
Another silence.
“Claire?”
“It's my grandmother's name.”
“I understand.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“Can I see her?”
I looked at Margaret.
She said nothing.
“Not yet.”
“I understand.”
That answer surprised me.
I had expected him to argue.
Instead, he said,
“Tell her I love her.”
I looked down at Evelyn.
“I will.”
He hung up.
An hour later, the hospital administrator entered.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes?”
“Your husband is downstairs.”
I closed my eyes.
“He has been waiting since early this morning.”
I didn't know how to feel.
“He hasn't asked us to force you to see him,” she continued.
“He simply asked if he could wait.”
I looked at my daughter.
“Five minutes.”
The administrator nodded.
A few minutes later, Roman entered.
He looked nothing like the man who had walked out of our house the night before.
His suit was wrinkled.
His hair was messy.
His face looked exhausted.
He stopped when he saw Evelyn.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he whispered,
“She is beautiful.”
I looked at him.
“You missed her birth.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“You chose not to be there.”
“I know.”
No excuse.
No defense.
Just acknowledgment.
Roman moved closer.
“Can I touch her?”
I hesitated.
Then I nodded.
He reached toward Evelyn's tiny hand.
She wrapped her fingers around his.
Roman's face collapsed.
He turned away quickly.
I had never seen him cry.
Not when his father died.
Not when his company nearly collapsed.
Not when we lost a pregnancy two years earlier.
But now tears ran down his face.
He whispered,
“I'm sorry.”
I didn't know whether he meant missing the birth.
The affair.
The lies.
Everything.
Maybe all of it.
He stayed for four minutes.
Then he stood.
“I'll go.”
I looked at him.
“You don't have to.”
He shook his head.
“You said five minutes.”
I realized then that he was trying to prove something.
Not to me.
To himself.
That he could hear a boundary and respect it.
He reached into his pocket.
My wedding ring was in his hand.
“You left this.”
I stared at it.
“I don't want it.”
“I know.”
He placed it on the table.
“I'm not asking you to wear it.”
Then he walked out.
I thought that would be the end of the story.
It wasn't.
That evening, while Evelyn slept beside me, a woman entered my room.
She was in her sixties.
Elegant.
Gray-haired.
Carrying a leather folder.
“Savannah Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Eleanor Vale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
She closed the door.
“I knew Roman's father.”
My heart tightened.
“Why are you here?”
“Because you need to know why someone wanted your marriage to collapse.”
I stared at her.
She opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
Roman's father.
Richard Vale.
And another man.
I recognized him.
Thomas Mercer.
Roman's chief financial officer.
Eleanor placed the photograph on the bed.
“Three men built the Carter fortune.”
“Roman's father.”
“Richard Vale.”
“And Thomas.”
She nodded.
“Richard died believing Thomas had betrayed him.”
I looked at the photograph.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Your daughter inherited something.”
“What?”
“A trust.”
I frowned.
“Roman never told me.”
“Because Roman didn't know the entire truth.”
She opened another file.
The document listed Evelyn as the primary beneficiary.
Then I saw another name.
Claire Bennett.
I looked up.
“Why is Claire here?”
Eleanor's face became serious.
“Because Claire is Richard Vale's granddaughter.”
My blood went cold.
“Then Claire isn't just Roman's business associate.”
“No.”
Eleanor closed the folder.
“She is connected to the family secret your husband doesn't even know exists.”
Before she left, she gave me one final warning.
“Do not trust anyone who tells you this is only about an affair.”
The door closed.
I looked at my sleeping daughter.
And suddenly, my marriage didn't feel like the biggest problem anymore.
Someone had been hiding something from us.
May you like
Something involving my daughter.
And someone was willing to destroy my family to get it.
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