I Left With Nothing, Except His Baby

Synopsis

On the nineteenth day after my divorce, I stood in a hospital hallway with my pregnancy test results in my hand, unable to move. The report put it in three words. [Six weeks pregnant.] The hallway was busy. Pregnant women walked past with their round bellies, families hurried by pushing wheelchairs, and nurses called out bed numbers to keep people moving. The whole place was full of life, but none of it felt like it had anything to do with me. I looked down and read it again. The name at the top said Charlotte Lane, and it was me, no mistake. "Andrew, listen to me." I steadied my breathing. "I'm not coming back. I'll have this baby and raise it myself. I don't need your money or any favors from the Masons. If you want to go to court, fine. Until then, don't contact me again." There was no need to guess who the father was. It could only be Andrew Mason, my ex-husband. Andrew and I had been divorced less than two months. The last time we slept together was a week before we signed the papers. We had both been drinking, neither of us spoke, and it felt like a dignified funeral. When I woke up the next morning, he was already dressed and standing by the window, as cool and controlled as ever. All he asked was, "Is there anything else you want in the settlement?" That was when I knew this marriage was dead.