The Dying Wife He Abandoned

SONIA I shouldn’t have gone to the gala. My body had told me not to, and I would be a fool if I said I didn't see or feel the signs. I felt it in the dull ache in my lower back, the strange heaviness in my abdomen, and the instinct that kept whispering stay home. Heaven knows I would have listened, but Kayden had insisted. “You’re fine, Sonia,” he’d said while adjusting his cufflinks. He didn't so much as spare me a glance as he checked himself out in the mirror. “Your due date isn’t for another month. Stop worrying, you're fine. Have I mentioned how gorgeous you look tonight?” Gorgeous. That was enough to make me ignore the way my fingers trembled when I slipped on my heels. Kayden kissed my forehead one last time before we got into the car and headed to the gala. The unease I'd been feeling before we left home made it hard enough to visualize how beautiful the night would be, but the moment we arrived, I was stunned to my heels. The ballroom was lit with gold lights and polished marble titles. Laughter erupted everywhere I looked and glasses clinked under the sound of music floating in the air. Women in silk gowns floated past me with the smell of their expensive perfume come to life, but for some strange reason, I felt wrong. Like I didn't belong here one bit, and maybe because I didn't. I told myself I was wound too tight, and maybe I was too heavy, and too aware of every step. Without wasting a second, I excused myself from Kayden’s side when another politician cornered him. He didn’t even notice my hand slipping from his arm, but I pushed the hurt that bubbled in my chest deeper into my skin. I'd barely made it three steps when I felt it. A warm trickle slid between my thighs and I froze. I was still processing it when another wave hit. It was sharper this time, and an intense and sharp ting of pain sliced through my abdomen so suddenly I gasped. Something wet slid down my leg and a drop of red hit the white marble. “No.” my bones shook as my breath left me. “No, please no.” “Kayden…” I tried to yell, but my voice came out thin and weak. Like that wasn't enough, my cry seemed to be swallowed by the music and conversation. Another contraction hit again, this one harder than the last, and this time, I felt my knees shook under me. “Kayden!” I tried again, louder, but he stood across the room laughing, champagne in hand, and surrounded by men who cared more about status than souls. “My babies…”I clutched my stomach as I whispered. “Please,” whatever I had to say died on the tip of my tongue as the pain came in a violent wave that tore a scream from my throat. That got his attention. The room blurred into chaos as Kayden rushed toward me, his face draining of color when he saw the blood pooling beneath me. “Sonia, Jesus…” He caught me before I hit the floor. “Get the car! Now!” Everything after that became fragments. I barely remembered him scooping me up bridal style and rushing towards the car. I vaguely recalled the cold night air against my overheated skin, Kayden’s shaking hands on the steering wheel, and his voice muttering, “It’s too early. It’s too early.” The contractions were relentless. The farther we drove, the more they crashed down on me, crushing me from the inside out. “Please…” I gripped the seat and cried. “...please let them be okay.” Kayden didn’t answer, and honestly, I didn't blame him. I blanked out at one point during the drive, just to be woken up by bright lights. I felt cold hands stab my sides, alongside voices overlapping. “She’s hemorrhaging…” someone called. “prep her now.” Came a second later “Twins…heart rate unstable—” I didn’t have time to process anything before they wheeled me into surgery. I barely remembered signing anything, I barely remembered breathing, and then darkness swallowed me whole. When I woke up, the pain was dull and my body felt like it had been hollowed out and stitched back together. I blinked at the white ceiling, just to come face to face with a nurse that stood beside my bed. She smiled softly when she noticed my eyes open. “Congratulations, Mrs. Wolfe,” she said gently. “You have two beautiful baby boys.” “What?” Tears filled my eyes instantly as my voice cracked. “Really, can I see them?” With her smile still on her face, she nodded and turned the bassinets toward me. My heart melted the moment I saw two tiny faces. They had identical wisps of dark hair, pink lips and with their closed eyes, they looked perfect. And they were mine. “They’re beautiful,” I whispered, reaching out with trembling fingers. “Yes, and healthy, we almost lost you back there,” Concern flashed in her eyes before the smile returned. Relief flooded me so powerfully I almost sobbed. I was okay and my babies were, and that was all that mattered. “I…Where’s my husband, Kayden?” As if summoned by his name, the door burst open and Kayden stormed in. His mother followed close behind, and my smile widened. “Kayden…” I smiled weakly. “they’re….” “How could you?” he cut me off immediately, the words hitting harder than the surgery incision. I didn’t even notice the look on his face when he walked in until he spoke. I blinked. “What?” Confused, my incision throbbing with pain. “How could you?” he asked again, voice shaking, not with relief, nor with joy, but with rage. That made me worry more than the pain I was feeling. What could have happened? Or better yet, what had I done? “I…” Confusion wrapped around my chest. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about darling?” I tried to sit up, that way I could look at him even better but pain seared through me, and I lay back down. “Explain this.” He strode to my bedside and threw a sheet of paper onto my lap. My hands trembled as I picked it up. It was a paternity test. My eyes scanned the words and I almost passed out for the second time. Twin A — 99.9% probability of paternity: Kayden Wolfe. Twin B — 0% probability of paternity: Kayden Wolfe. My stomach dropped. And stopped at the same time. Realization downed on me, and it was heavier than anything I had ever felt in my life. I shook my head. He had done a parternity test on our children without my knowledge, that was the first blow. Did he not trust me? My eyes made a journey to his face, then to his mother’s, who was standing arms crossed on her chest beside him, throwing me a scowl like I had committed the worst sin on earth. Because to her, to them, I had. That was what the paper in my hand said. The second blow was that one of my children was not mine. But that was impossbile because Kayden was the only man I had been with. “That’s impossible,” I breathed, my voice breaking just as loud as my heart was. Because of this lie, my husband and his mother thought I had cheated, carried another man’s seed and let it grow inside me. My hands trembled as I gripped the papers, hoping a miracle would change it somehow. It didn't. The nurse shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll go get the doctor,” she murmured before slipping out in a hurry. My eyes remained on Kayden’s and they were filled with something I had never seen directed at me in all our two years of marriage. Disgust. “You expect me to believe you didn’t know?” he forced through clenched teeth. But the fact that he was even asking me this tore my heart to pieces. It told me how little he thought of me. Of our bond. Two freaking years and he didn’t trust me. Whatever happened to seeking for a second opinion? Tears I didn’t know had gathered in my eyes streamed down my face. And I forced the words out even though my body felt like shutting down. “I’ve never been with anyone else,” I strained, my voice breaking. “Kayden, you’re the only man I’ve ever been with and you know that.” He craned his head to the side slightly, one hand moving into his pocket while the other tugged on the already loose tie around his neck. “Do I? That’s not what the f*****g paternity test says, Sonia,” He laughed bitterly. “God, I’m such a fool, I should’ve listened to my mother.” His mother? The same woman who from day one tried everything to put a wedge between us? Her? The woman, my mother-in-law who had been silent all this time stepped forward then as if summoned as well, her heels clicking sharply against the tile. “I did warn you Kayden. But instead you chose this….” she sneered coldly her red painted finger nail pointing at me like a dagger. “Because my son thought he was in love.” “I didn’t cheat,” I tried again hoping he would just listen to me, tears spilling freely now. “I swear to you.” But the door swung open then, and the doctor walked, adjusting his glasses. His jaw ticked with something heavy, like he was here to deliver bad news. “I understand you have concerns ma’am,” he started to say. The nurse must have told him everything. “But your pregnancy was a rare condition, and it’s called heteropaternal superfecundation. What this means is that twins can be conceived by two different fathers.” I stared at him mind completely blank. Since when did a wrong report have a name? Because that was all it sounded to me. “It is rare, Mrs Wolfe,” he pressed again, then turned to Kayden. “But I assure you, it is medically documented.” “I would have believed you if I really had another man in my life, doctor. But I don’t. So I want another test done. “This is a mistake and it’s making my husband think that I cheated on him.”