The Woman He Created

EVELYN The thing about being left behind is you get used to the door closing. I stood by the bathroom doorway with a towel in my hands and watched Alex knot his tie in the mirror, with his fingers moving easily like someone who had somewhere more important to be. Somewhere more important than our home, with me. “Don’t wait up. I have no idea how long the business meeting and dinner is going to take.” He spoke, without meeting my gaze in the mirror. I didn’t say anything. I had nothing more to say. This was routine for the past two weeks. Meetings and dinner every single night yet I couldn’t complain. I needed his career and company to be stable more than he did. He looked pretty good, and for a minute, I found myself envious of the attention he paid to his belt as he tried to buckle it. If only he could give me half that much of attention. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to stomach the pain of watching him leave me all alone every night, to eat by myself. “Elizabeth.” He turned from the mirror and finally looked at me directly. His gazes were soft and somehow, it made my heart skipped a beat. He always did. “I promise, I will make it up to you.” I simply smiled and nodded. That had been his mantra for the past fourteen days yet there was nothing forthcoming. How long would this keep happening? He looked at me for a minute longer and stepped out of the room. I stood by the window, and watched him get into the car before driving off, leaving me all alone to the silence of our home. I was still standing there when I felt a sharp but short cramp. I pressed my hand to my stomach and closed my eyes. No. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t ! I had been late. Eleven days late to be precise as I had been counting. My heart had began to hope even though I couldn’t dare say it loud. I had been nauseous last week, sleeping longer and waking more tired. I didn’t …. Couldn’t tell Alex. He had told me he wasn’t ready for us to have kids until his career was stable and he was very stable to build a family, even though I told him I could take care of the child until he’s ready. All I needed was a companion, to keep me company in this lonely house I had spent most of my time in like a prisoner. But Alex had refused. He insisted he wasn’t ready for us to have our own kids yet somehow, I hoped my missed period and the nauseous feeling could become something positive. The cramps could not come again! The cramp deepened and every little imagination and hope shattered. My body never lied to me. My period was simply late. I rushed to the bathroom to confirm and a deep heavy feeling at in my chest. I stayed on the floor for a couple of minutes before taking my bath. I avoided looking at the calendar. It was my father’s birthday today. As much as I wanted to forget this day, to forget everything about him, I couldn’t. Three whole years since we severed ties, or rather since he severed ties with me because I married Alex against his wish yet not once, not once had he ever tried to reach out to me to know how I was faring. I put my phone face down on the counter and went to clean the bedroom. I wouldn’t delude myself into thinking I would fall asleep if I lay on the bed. I had to overwork myself so I could get too exhausted to do anything and so, I decided to start with the kitchen. He hadn’t eaten his food, again and I hated that I had to throw it out but it would remain there and stink until I got it out of the way. He never cared. I cleaned the surfaces and everything and again, picked up my phone. I couldn’t stop thinking about father. Does he miss me? Would he celebrate his birthday this year? He would be turning 55, a milestone we used to talk about years ago and how I would be his personal stylist on that day. Would he find someone else now? I made the mistake of opening my step sister’s i********: account. Her face greeted me first with a wide smile on his chin and a cake with smoking candles still on it. Behind her was father. He looked older than I remembered but he was smiling, genuinely, like he used to smile when we were younger. He seemed so happy. They looked happy, like they were fine without me. Like they had been waiting for me to be gone. I dropped the phone immediately and went back to cleaning. If he was fine without me, then I had to force myself to be fine without him too. I had barely bent to clean the refrigerator when my phone beeped and I ignored it but then came another and another. I walked over to my phone immediately and my brows furrowed almost immediately. Six thousand? I opened the message to be sure I was seeing right. Alex. He had withdrawn six thousand dollars from our account. What on earth could he possibly need such amount of money for? He had been taking quite a lot these past few days with promises to refund but all I got was nothing. I held the phone still, trying to figure out why he would need such amount at that time of the night when my phone beeped again. It was a message, but thankfully, not a debit. My heart skipped a beat as I opened it and my phone barely survived hitting the floor. Was I imagining things? I took in a deep breath, picked up the phone and looked at it again. It was a picture of Alex. Not just him but a lady was present there too, with his hands around her waist and a child in her hands with the caption ‘Guess where he is now…..’ This.. this had to be a dream! Or was I overthinking things?