The Wife He Learned To Lose

Synopsis

Yolanda Fennimore woke up in the middle of the night from a sharp, twisting pain. She had never felt anything like it before. It felt like someone was slowly grinding a dull knife into her lower abdomen, over and over again. The rhythm was steady, but the pain was so intense that she curled up tightly on instinct. Her hand reached out without thinking, searching the space beside her on the bed. It was cold. No one was there. Mortimer Fennimore had not come home again. Her phone screen lit up. It was 1:47 a.m. She bit down on her lip, pulled the blanket up, and curled into herself, hoping the pain would fade on its own. She didn't want to go to the hospital. She didn't want to call Mortimer. She didn't want anyone thinking she was overreacting. In the four years since she married into the Fennimore family, the most important thing she had learned was to never bother anyone. But this time was different. She felt something warm rush out of her body. It felt like blood. Her heart dropped. She fumbled for the bedside lamp and switched it on. The moment the light came on, the sight hit her hard. Blood had already soaked into the blanket, spreading across the white sheets like a blooming red rose. She was pregnant. The timing of this child had been wrong from the start. If anything, it felt almost absurd. Three months ago, Mortimer had come home drunk for once. When he held her, he called out another woman's name—Pansy Mallin. She had heard it clearly. But she had not pushed him away. She had thought that if they had a child, maybe he would look at her a little more. She knew how pitiful that sounded, but she felt like she had no other choice. She loved Mortimer. Ever since she first saw him at a Fennimore family party when she was sixteen, she had loved him. Her fingers trembled as she picked up her phone and dialed his number. It rang three times before someone answered. Before she could even speak, a woman's frightened voice came through the line. "Mortimer, I fell. It hurts so much—" Then Mortimer spoke, his voice rushed and panicked in a way she had never heard before. "Pansy, don't move. I'm coming right now." The call ended.