Chapter 2
Series 1 Chapter 2
Callum came home at eight o'clock that night.
"Claire?"
I sat at the kitchen table and didn't answer.
A few seconds later, he walked in.
His suit jacket was gone. His sleeves were rolled up. In his hands were two large shopping bags.
"I bought something."
Callum opened the bags himself.
Inside were tiny baby clothes.
A soft blanket.
A small musical mobile we had looked at together last weekend.
For a moment, I remembered how excited he had been.
He had stood in the baby store for almost an hour, comparing different colors and asking which one I liked better.
That was the hardest part.
Callum wasn't a man who didn't love us.
He loved this baby.
He loved me.
But somehow, when someone else needed him, we were always the ones expected to understand.
"I thought we could finish setting up the nursery this weekend," he said quietly.
I looked at the baby clothes.
Then at him.
"Dr. Evans said the baby is at risk."
His expression changed immediately.
"What?"
"My blood pressure is too high."I tried to keep my voice steady."She said the placenta is unstable. If anything happens, I could go into premature labor."
The color faded from his face.
He stepped closer.
"Claire..."
For the first time since leaving the clinic, he looked scared.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The question made my chest tighten.
Not because he was angry.
Because he genuinely didn't know.
"I called you."
He froze.
"What?"
"I called you three times after I left the clinic."
I unlocked my phone and placed it on the table.
The missed calls were still there.
Three unanswered calls.
Three moments when I needed my husband.
Callum stared at the screen.
His fingers tightened.
"I didn't see them."
He looked up at me. "Claire, I swear, if I knew it was that serious, I wouldn't have left."
I watched him.
I believed him.
That was what made everything harder.
He wasn't lying.
He really thought this was the first time he had failed me."I thought you were safe."
I looked at him.
"Because the doctor was there?"
He didn't answer.
"Because I always handle things?"
His expression changed.
"That's not what I meant."
"But that's what happened."
The room became silent.
For years, I had been the strong one.
When his company struggled, I stayed beside him.
When he worked late, I waited.
When problems appeared, I solved them.
I had always told myself that love meant understanding.
But somewhere along the way, my understanding became something he depended on.
Something that allowed him to believe I would never be the person who needed saving.
The tablet on the kitchen counter lit up.
My iPad chimed on the kitchen table.
It was an urgent notification from the hospital portal.
Please complete your maternity emergency file.
I picked up the tablet. I opened the file.
Right at the top, it asked for my primary emergency contact. The system had already auto-filled it from my old records.
Callum Reed.
I stared at his name. I thought about the empty chair in the clinic.
I tapped the screen. I hit backspace.
I deleted my husband's name completely.
Instead, I typed two words.
Adrian Bennett.
My phone rang a moment later. It was the clinic coordinator calling to verify my updated file.
I answered it.
"Mrs. Reed, we received your file update," the nurse said. "Just to confirm the emergency contact... Adrian Bennett? Is Mr. Bennett your father?"
"Yes," I said.
The nurse paused. "Understood."
She didn't ask any more questions. People in the high-end medical field knew exactly who the Bennetts were.
But Callum didn't.
The room went silent.
Callum stared at the screen.
His face slowly changed."why isn't it me?"
I closed the tablet.
"Because I need someone I can count on."
Callum didn't speak.
For the first time in seven years, he looked afraid.
Not because I was angry.
Because he realized I had started preparing for a life where I couldn't depend on him.
And he didn't know how long I had been thinking about it.