Chapter 1
My husband bet $2,000 that his pregnant wife would never leave him.
Then he signed our separation agreement to prove it.
I was standing outside the VIP room when he did it.
In one hand, I held a box of Ethan's favorite pastries. Beneath the ribbon was the ultrasound photograph from the prenatal appointment he had missed that afternoon.
I had come to surprise him.
Instead, I heard his friends laughing about me.
"Come on, Ethan," Dean said. "If Claire was really going to leave, she would've done it last month."
My hand stopped on the brass door handle.
Last month.
The night Ethan had promised to attend my prenatal appointment, then left me waiting at the hospital for three hours because a pipe had burst in Natalie's apartment.
I had gone home alone and packed a suitcase.
"I can't be pregnant and keep waiting for you to come home from another woman every day," I had told him.
Those words had cost me every bit of courage I had.
Now Ethan repeated them in an exaggerated, trembling voice.
"I thought she was serious for about five minutes," Ethan said."Then I put my hand on her stomach and reminded her we were having a baby."
"And that worked?" Dean asked.
"With Claire?" Ethan said. "It always works."
Another round of laughter.
My fingers tightened around the pastry box.
Last month, I had believed Ethan touched my stomach because he was afraid of losing us.
He had held me.
He had promised he would change.
He had promised we would finally move into the new house.
He had promised he would stop making me feel like Natalie's emergencies mattered more than mine.
I unpacked my suitcase because I thought my husband was choosing our family.
Apparently, Ethan remembered it differently.
To him, my staying had not been forgiveness.
It had been proof. Proof that he could hurt me and still keep me.
Then a woman laughed softly."Pregnant women get emotional."
Natalie.
His childhood sweetheart.
The woman who somehow always needed him at the exact moment I did.
Now she was sitting beside my husband. Her purse rested on the chair I usually took.
"They say dramatic things when they want attention."
Ethan did not defend me.
"She even had a lawyer prepare papers," He agreed.
A folder landed on the table.
My breath stopped.
I recognized its bent corner immediately.
My separation agreement.
The one I had asked him to sign if he truly believed nothing in our marriage needed to change last month.
He had refused.
Now he had brought it to a party.
Natalie smiled. "I don't think Claire is the one who's scared to sign those papers."
She reached across him and opened it.
"Well? You're so certain Claire won't leave," She pushed the folder closer. "Just for a joke. Dare to sign them, Mr. Brave?"
The room went crazy.
"Do it, man!" Someone cheered.
Another friend began chanting Ethan's name.
Dean pulled out his phone.
"I'll make it interesting," he said. "One thousand dollars says that if you sign, Claire leaves before Friday."
Friday.
Ethan and I were supposed to choose a crib together on Friday evening.
He had promised to clear his schedule. I had already sent him the model I liked.
Through the narrow opening in the door, I could see Natalie holding out a silver pen.
For one second, I waited for Ethan to stop smiling.
He could make fun of my tears.
He could tell his friends I was too dependent on him to leave.
But surely he would not sign the paper that had once made me shake so badly I could barely hold it.
Ethan looked around the room. Then, he laughed.
"Make it two thousand," he said. "Claire will be standing beside me on Friday, picking out a crib."
Dean laughed. "Deal."
He reached out and took the silver pen from Natalie's hand.
One of the men hesitated. "Hey Ethan, she is sixteen weeks pregnant. What if she finds out?"
Ethan did not look worried at all. He looked perfectly relaxed.
"She needs me. And even if she gets upset, where is she going to go? She's having my child."
His eyes were completely clear. He was not drunk.
He took the pen from Natalie and signed.
The room exploded with cheers before he finished the last letter of his name.
My unborn baby was the reason he felt safe humiliating me.
I stepped away from the door.
No one noticed.
I looked down at the white envelope tucked beneath the pastry ribbon. The edge of our baby's ultrasound photograph was still visible.
Ethan had missed the appointment.
I had still brought the picture to him. I had imagined his face when he saw the curve of the baby's head.
Instead, he had just used that baby to explain why humiliating me was safe.
I pulled the ultrasound envelope free.
Then I turned around.
Outside, cold air hit my face.
I did not walk into the room.
I did not ask him why Natalie was sitting in my chair or why my separation agreement had become entertainment for his friends.
I placed one hand over the small curve beneath my coat.
He had just signed the one document he believed I would never use.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Ethan appeared on the screen.
[I'll be home late. Get some rest.]
A second message appeared.
[Don't forget Friday. I cleared my evening for the crib.]
I stared at it.
Friday.
The deadline of his bet.
The night he was so certain I would still be standing beside him.
I opened my sister Nora's chat.
[You said your spare room was always open for me. Does that still count?]
Nora replied less than a minute later.
[Always. Tell me when.]
I looked back through the glass doors.
Ethan was still inside. Natalie was beside him.
The signed agreement lay between them.
Neither of them knew I had heard a single word.
I typed one last message.
[Friday.]