Chapter 3
Kyle's words hit me like a knife, stabbing straight into my heart.
I admitted, pregnancy had changed my body. I wasn't as slim as I used to be.
But who gave him the right to say that? To judge me?
A wave of hurt and anger shot straight to my head, and my eyes started to sting with tears.
Just as I was about to lose it, a voice suddenly exploded behind me. "Kyle, you blind bastard! Who the hell are you calling fat?"
Out of nowhere, my whirlwind bestie, Emily Brooks, a total firecracker and a vet, showed up behind me.
She'd just come from delivering piglets in the barn, still rocking her muddy work clothes and lugging a mud-splattered toolbox.
She stormed over, threw herself in front of me, and fixed Kyle with a protective, furious glare.
"What's wrong with your eyes? She's got curves, okay? That's just pregnancy glow," she shot back.
"You have no idea. She's pregnant, you idiot! Pregnant. Do you even get it?" she yelled, her voice ringing out across the whole yard.
The air froze for a split second.
Kyle's anger instantly stiffened, replaced by total shock and disbelief.
His eyes slowly, inch by inch, slid from Emily's face to mine, and finally landed on my very obvious baby bump.
The "extra weight" he'd criticized turned out to be a baby bump?
His brain short-circuited, all logic out the window.
When I saw him so stunned, all the hurt and fear I'd bottled up for days just melted away.
What was I even afraid of?
Why was I hiding?
I straightened my back, stepped out from behind Emily, and locked eyes with him, not backing down.
It finally hit me.
I was done being passive. I was taking my life back.
I looked him straight in the eye and said, every word crystal clear, "Yes, I'm pregnant.
"But relax, Mr. Walsh.
"The baby isn't yours."
Kyle looked like he'd just been struck by a bolt of lightning.
Shock, disbelief—he seemed unable to process the words. Beneath it all, a spark of anger flickered, unnoticed even by himself.
"Not mine?" he muttered, like he couldn't believe his own ears.
He snapped, "Then whose is it?" His voice suddenly went way sharper than even he'd expected.
I just stared back at him, as cool as a cucumber. Inside, I felt totally at peace.
"Mr. Walsh, my personal life is none of your business. Pretty sure it's not in our contract, is it?" I shot back, cool and unbothered.
"Hazel!" He was so stunned that he couldn't even speak, his handsome face flushing a deep, angry red.
Unable to contain her glee any longer, Linda finally chimed in, her voice pitched high with excitement.
"Oh my God! Didn't I say she was trouble? Fresh off a divorce and already pregnant by some other guy? Seriously, she's got zero shame," she crowed, milking the drama for all it was worth.
"Mr. Walsh, please see her for what she is. A woman like that shouldn't be allowed near your kitchen, let alone your food," she spat, her words dripping with venom.
But Kyle didn't turn on me as she'd hoped.
He whipped around, his gaze as cold and sharp as a blade.
"That's enough!" he barked.
Linda flinched, instantly fell silent.
His focus returned to me.
He might've forgotten our past, forgotten our marriage, but that possessive streak in him was still as strong as ever.
The mere idea of me, his former wife, carrying another man's child ignited a furious, irrational fire in him.
This wasn't about love. It was all about pride.
He started getting obsessive, acting like a detective, desperate to find out who the "other guy" was.
He had people to dig into every single person I'd talked to since I came back to the village.