Chapter 4

"Father?"

I held the registration form out in front of Owen.

Willa stood outside the door, tears still clinging to her lashes.

Owen glanced at the form without looking surprised.

"The class requires us to list the biological parents."

"You're planning to attend parenting classes with her too?"

"It's only three weekends." He folded the paper again. "The course includes infant first aid. Since the baby is connected to me, I should know how to care for her."

"You said you were only a donor."

"I was talking about how she was conceived."

The impatience in his voice stunned me.

As if he weren't the one who had kept this from me for five months. As if I were the problem for failing to understand something perfectly reasonable.

Willa suddenly grabbed the doorframe as her body swayed.

Owen immediately caught her by the arm.

"Is it hurting again?"

She nodded, her breathing shallow and quick.

"I'm taking her to the hospital." Owen snatched up his car keys. "We won't go out tonight. I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

After the door closed, the white roses on the dining table were still in full bloom.

The jewelry box sat alone beside my plate. I didn't open it.

Owen came home early the following afternoon.

He had made a reservation at another restaurant. He promised to turn off his phone and assured me that last night had been a false alarm.

The test results were normal. Willa didn't need him with her.

I hadn't wanted to go, but I put on the blue dress anyway.

I needed to know whether he was still capable of making it through one dinner that belonged to the two of us alone.

The restaurant overlooked the river, its lights shimmering across the water outside the windows.

Owen held my hand, his thumb gently rubbing over my wedding ring.

"Mara, I know I handled this badly," he said. "Give me some time. I'll explain everything."

The waiter had just set down our appetizers when the phone Owen had placed facedown on the table lit up.

An unknown number.

Owen didn't answer.

When it rang a second time, I accepted the call for him and turned on the speaker.

Willa's tearful voice came through.

"Owen, I'm bleeding."

His chair scraped sharply backward.

"Call an ambulance," I said.

"An ambulance will take too long." Owen had already grabbed his coat. "The hospital is a long way from her house."

Without even looking at me, he turned and rushed out of the restaurant.

The candle on our table burned down to a short stump.

In the end, I ate the cold appetizers alone.

An hour later, I called a car and went to the hospital.

The obstetric emergency department was quiet.

From behind a half-drawn curtain, the first thing I heard was the rapid, steady rhythm of the fetal heart monitor.

Willa lay in the hospital bed. Her face was pale, but she seemed perfectly alert.

Owen sat beside her, holding one of her hands while his other rested gently on her still-flat stomach.

"Can you hear it?" Willa asked softly.

Owen stared at the monitor, his eyes faintly red.

"I can."

The nurse adjusted the IV drip, then smiled at him. "Don't worry. Your wife and baby are both fine. It was only some light bleeding. She can go home tonight."

Owen didn't correct her immediately.

Neither did Willa.

I stood outside the curtain, staring at their joined hands until Owen finally looked up and noticed me.

He pulled his hand away at once.

"Mara?"

The nurse turned to look at me, then glanced back at Willa in the bed.

"And who is this?"

I didn't answer. I simply looked at Owen.

I wanted to know how he planned to introduce the other "wife" in his life.