He Made Me Carry His Mistress's Baby

It had taken five years of marriage, but I was finally pregnant. Nathan Grant hired a top OB-GYN for me and had his assistant book a private suite at the hospital. To our friends, our marriage was perfect. Then, late one night during my 31st week of pregnancy, I got up to use the bathroom and noticed a line of light under the guest bathroom door. Nathan was inside, soothing another woman. "Vanessa, don't cry. The doctor says Owen can hold on a little longer. Sophie will give birth soon. They've already run the compatibility tests. The doctor said the cord blood might help. I'll find Owen the best doctor there is." He paused, his voice even gentler than it was when he comforted me. "I know you don't want to go through childbirth again. She's always wanted to be a mother. Letting her have the baby is best for everyone." I pressed a hand against the cold wall. The baby suddenly moved inside me, kicking so hard that I gasped. The voice behind the door cut off abruptly. A few seconds later, I heard water running. Nathan stepped out with the belt of his robe hanging loose, yet there wasn't a trace of sleepiness on his face. "Sophie? How long have you been standing there?" His gaze went first to my face, then to my belly. "I just got here," I heard myself say. "The baby kicked a little too hard." He scooped me into his arms and carried me downstairs barefoot. "Don't be afraid, sweetheart. We're going to the hospital right now." If I hadn't heard what I'd just heard, I'd have fallen for him all over again. As we drove out of East Heights, he kept one hand on the steering wheel and gripped mine tightly with the other. "Breathe, Sophie. Look at me. I'm right here." I turned to study the familiar line of his jaw and the wedding ring he never took off. He had held my hand exactly this way eight years earlier, leading me across campus in a downpour. He had promised that as long as he was there, I would never have to be afraid. The tests showed that the baby's heart rate was stable for the moment. The doctor kept me overnight for observation, and Nathan stayed until dawn, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion. I was too frightened to close my eyes, but I finally drifted off as daylight crept into the room. When I woke, he was wiping my hand with a damp cloth. "Hungry? I'll get your favorite bagel. Light on the cream cheese." I nodded. A nurse came in to take my temperature. As he left, she smiled. "He remembers everything you like. It must be reassuring to have someone so attentive by your side." I looked down at the needle mark on the back of my hand. For this baby, I had undergone two rounds of egg retrieval and more blood draws than I could count. The bruises on my abdomen hadn't even faded before fresh needles went in. Once, I had broken down crying in the bathroom and said I couldn't do it anymore. Nathan had knelt in front of me, taken both my hands, and told me it didn't matter if we never had children. He only wanted me. Yet the very next day, he brought me a new treatment plan. "Just one last try, okay?" Back then, I believed him. Remembering his phone call the night before, I picked up my phone, ready to call him right away, but my finger stopped over the button. Would he admit it? First, I needed to find out exactly what he had meant by "let her have the baby." I opened our location-sharing app. Nathan's icon was still inside the hospital, not at the bakery across the street. He had once told me that location sharing would reassure me because I would always know where he was. Supporting my belly with one hand, I left the room and spotted him by the elevators. He wasn't carrying breakfast. All he had was a kid's water bottle. Just before the elevator doors closed, I saw the pediatric floor light up on the display. I took the next elevator after him. The stairwell door had been left slightly ajar. Behind it, a blonde woman was reaching up to straighten his tie. Vanessa Blake—his first love. The woman who had supposedly settled in Valenne and hadn't spoken to him in years. I took out my phone and hit record. My fingers trembled so badly I could barely hold it. I steadied it with my other hand and aimed the camera through the gap at the two of them. "You stayed with her all night." She tilted her face toward his. "Owen kept asking for Daddy." "Keep your voice down." "Your company invested in the fertility clinic, and the transfer records have already been taken care of. What are you still afraid of?" I couldn't breathe. Nathan caught her by the wrist. "Only two people on the transfer team know. Don't talk about it here." She smiled, trailing a finger down his tie. "Fine, I won't. She's carrying my baby for me anyway. It's not like I'm the one suffering through it." He didn't deny it. He bent down and kissed her. That was when it hit me. The baby I was carrying had never been ours. It belonged to Nathan and Vanessa. I didn't know how I made it back to my room. On my bedside table lay a card bearing the name we had chosen for the baby. I had spent three nights covering the edges with drawings of bears and stars. I turned the card facedown, bent over, and watched my tears hit my knees. By the time the doctor came in, I was crying too hard to form a complete sentence. Nathan hurried back soon afterward, the bagels in the paper bag still warm. "Why is she crying like this? Is she in pain?" He rushed to the bedside and wrapped his arms around me. "Sophie, look at me. Tell me what happened."