Chapter 4
Macy flat-out refused to get an abortion and kept saying over and over that this baby was her last tie to Billy. She could only watch as her belly got bigger day by day.
Billy had vanished ages ago, just telling her to come find him after the baby was born—then he would give her and the child a large sum of money.
Macy was on the verge of a breakdown. She went online and bought a ton of fertility charms, plastering them all over the house.
"Dear God, please send me a baby boy. If I had a boy, maybe I could finally win his heart back." Macy kept praying.
Watching Macy so obsessed, I honestly felt sorry for her.
Macy had been a victim of the whole "son preference" thing, truly believing women were second-class—and in the end, she started pushing that same toxic mindset herself.
Leila had been sick to her stomach for half a month, and when she saw the whole house covered in those fertility charms, she finally lost it and ripped them all down.
"Why are you putting up all this bad luck junk? Are you trying to let everyone know you have no shame, no self-respect, and that you're just some seductress?" Leila snapped.
Macy was completely lost by the scolding.
"Mom, didn't you always say kids are the best gift in the world, little angels? What's wrong with putting up baby pictures?" Macy asked, honestly confused.
Leila was left speechless.
How could she tell Macy that it was because she was now carrying this so-called "best gift" herself?
I kept a close watch on things, dragging Francis along with me whenever I could.
Leila tore down Macy's fertility charms every single day. Just seeing those baby charms made her rush to the bathroom to throw up.
Macy trailed after her and worriedly asked, "Mom, did you eat something bad?"
"Stay out of it, you little brat!" Leila snapped.
Suddenly, there was a sharp scream.
Francis burst out of the kitchen, waving a crumpled-up pregnancy report that Leila had deliberately balled up.
"Mom. What's going on? Are you pregnant?" Francis blurted out.
Leila flung open the bathroom door, stormed over to Francis, snatched the report from his hand, and stuffed it into her pocket.
"No! You must be seeing things. How shameless can you be, making up stuff about your own mother? At my age, how could I possibly be pregnant?" Leila snapped.
I frantically dug the pregnancy report out of Leila's pocket.
"Mom, this is amazing news. Why didn't you tell us? The Schmidt family is about to have a new member. I have to call Laurence right away," I said.
With that, I reached for my phone.
Leila rushed over and stopped me. "Don't you dare!"
In the chaos, the pregnancy report fluttered down at Macy's feet.
Staring at it, she read out slowly, "In the womb... three live fetuses?"
"Mom!" Macy and Francis both screamed at the same time.
"Seriously, what did you do to end up with so many?" Francis blurted out.
Leila rushed over to clap a hand over their mouths.
Meanwhile, I was dialing the number.
"Hey, Laurence. You're still going strong at your age. Congratulations, you're about to have three more kids," I said.
Laurence was totally lost, yelling at me for being shameless.
I shook my head. "Laurence, seriously, we all get it—you and Leila still have a life together. How is that shameless? Oh, and by the way, you probably don't know yet, but Leila's pregnant! Triplets!"
There was a thud on the other end of the line.
Laurence straight-up fainted.
Right behind me, there was another thud.
Yep, Leila went down too.
When Leila finally came to, she wouldn't stop calling me a walking disaster.
Before I could even defend myself, Laurence stormed in, and the moment he walked through the door, he slapped Leila right across the face.