The Car Remembered Her Pregnancy, Not My Life

Chapter 3

Chloe's POV:

Four days before the wedding, the day before the pre-wedding dinner for the elders from both families, Matthew gave me the keys to our marital home.

Only my name was on the property deed.

"Will this finally put your mind at ease?"

He pressed the keys into my palm.

"I'm giving you both the car and the house. Where else would I even go?"

I ran the vintage restoration shop my father left me.

The dining table and cabinets were pieces I'd picked up at the flea market, stripping off the old paint layer by layer and refinishing them with wax.

That afternoon, he accompanied me to pick out curtains, and for once, he didn't answer Ella's call.

I asked, "Aren't you afraid she won't be able to reach you?"

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my ear.

"I'm with my own wife. What's she gonna do, flip out? Stop pushing me away. If someone really steals me away later, you'll be the one crying."

As we were leaving, the sales manager chased after us and handed another set of keys to Matthew.

"Mr. Harris, the interior decor for Ms. Moore's apartment is complete. The nursery, as you instructed, uses the most eco-friendly materials."

The smile on Matthew's face vanished instantly.

The manager realized he had misspoken and froze.

I asked, "What nursery?"

He took the keys, his tone calm.

"Ella was looking at the apartment for her cousin. I helped find a designer. Her cousin is due soon."

That cousin again.

On the way back, he bought the lavender shortbread cookies I liked, breaking them into small pieces and feeding them to me.

"Don't sulk. The deed is only in your name. How else do you want me to prove it? Must I carve out my heart and weigh it?"

I pushed his hand away. "Stop the car."

"Chloe Clark, enough is enough," he shouted.

I insisted. "I want to see that apartment."

He slammed on the brakes.

"I hate it when you're like this. One question isn't enough. You have to dig into everyone's private business. You didn't use to be this difficult."

I looked at him.

"Did I change, or is it your guilty conscience?"

His Adam's apple bobbed. Suddenly, he unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me into his arms.

"Okay, I was too harsh."

He stroked the back of my head, his voice softening again.

"After the wedding, we have decades to spend together. Don't let outsiders wear down our relationship."

That night, I discovered the silver rattle my mother had left for her future grandchild was missing.

Matthew said the movers might have packed it in the wrong box and promised to help me find it.

In the early hours of the morning, the sales manager called, saying there had been a mix-up with the keys and asking me to go to the underground garage to exchange them.

When I arrived, Matthew and Ella were standing by the elevator to that apartment.

Ella was holding that silver rattle in her hand.

"I don't want something she left for her own child placed in my nursery," she said.

"Your marital home is only in her name. What do the child and I even mean to you?"

Matthew lowered his voice.

"Giving her the marital home is to put her mind at ease. I'll buy a separate house for you and the child. What are you missing out on?"

"What about the wedding?" Ella asked.

"It's still on," he replied.

"What about when she finds out about the baby down the road?" Ella continued.

Matthew fell silent for a moment, his voice firm.

"Chloe is soft-hearted and couldn't bear to leave me. Once she becomes Mrs. Harris, I'll coax her, and she'll only act up for a few days tops."

Ella sneered.

"You can't bear to give up the home she gives you, and you can't bear to give up the baby I'm having for you. Matthew, you're so greedy."

He didn't deny it. He only took the rattle back from her hand.

"Don't drop it. If it cracks, she'll just have to fix it again."

Ella asked, "Can she fix everything?"

Matthew let out a laugh.

"She hates throwing things away."

At that moment, all the vague oddities made sense.

There was no such cousin.

The baby she was sixteen weeks pregnant with was Matthew's.

That apartment was their home.

The rattle in the nursery was the one my mother had left for my child.

And only my name was on the deed—not because he loved me.

It was hush money to silence his wife in name only.

I didn't rush out to confront them.

The elders from both families had already arrived for the pre-wedding family dinner tomorrow night; I didn't want to embarrass my mother in front of everyone.

I sent a message to my apprentice.

Chloe: Watch the shop for me after tomorrow night's family dinner. I'll return the ring to Matthew, then take Mom back to our hometown.

The wedding dress could be returned.

I could give up the marital home.

This man who wanted to have it all—I didn't want him either.