“What happened to our baby? I want to see
him.” Three months, my baby was fully formed,
but he never had a chance.
I got the same reply as the last seven times: “I
had him properly buried. You’re not in a good
place right now, I’m worried it will upset you.”
“My parents are so upset about the miscarriage
too, maybe we should go back to my family’s
place for dinner tonight and see them?”
As soon as we walked into his family’s place,
Ashley was all smiles, practically clinging to his
<
mother’s arm.
When she saw me, she held out her belly as if
showing off a prize. “Oh, Kate, there you are!
It’s been too long, sit down. I heard about the
miscarriage, honey, don’t overdo it.”
Since the wedding incident, things were so bad
between me, Mark, and Ashley that I always
went to the family’s place when they weren’t
around. I couldn’t believe how wrong that timing
was.
Looking at her six–month belly, I remembered it
was Greg’s child. He’d never let one of mine
live more than three months.
His mother’s face hardened as soon as she saw
- me. “Useless. Can’t even hold onto a kid, what
is this, the tenth time? How is it my son got
stuck with you?”
She was Greg’s biological mother, but Mark’s
step–grandmother. At 50, she was a sharp
woman. She was angry that the CEO title had
been taken away from her son.
Greg used to stand up for me, but now his eyes
were glued on Ashley, and he was lost in a daze
<
of longing and infatuation. He didn’t even hear
what anyone was saying.
“Grandma, you need to calm down. Kate just
doesn’t have the luck to be a mother. It’s not
like she wants all those babies to die.”
His mother scoffed, “You’re a bad omen for my
son.”
Ashley chimed in with her fake concern, and
then reached to take my arm, then immediately
steadied herself. Even though she recovered,
Greg pushed me aside to catch her.
He scooped her up, completely ignoring his
parents, and asked, “Ashley, are you okay? You
shouldn’t be out of bed, where’s Mark?”
Ashley giggled. “Mark had to go to the States
for work. He’s taking over as CEO soon, so he’s
just too busy!”
She shot me a look of victory and said to Greg
in a sweet voice: “Honey, I think I twisted my
ankle, it hurts!”
Without another word, Greg was already
carrying her towards the bedrooms upstairs,
and didn’t even look back at me.
<
His mother gave me a knowing look, and then
sneered, “Not only are you useless, but you
can’t even keep a man. If Mark hadn’t married
Ashley first, why would my son have even
looked at you? Go upstairs. You make me sick
to look at.”
I knew my mother–in–law didn’t like me. She
thought I was just a woman Mark didn’t want,
latching onto her son and embarrassing him.
Because of the miscarriages, she hated me
even more.
I always thought I was just unable to carry a
child and so felt guilty.
Greg usually spoke up for me, but this time, he
was too busy with Ashley to even notice me.
For a split second, I wanted to scream, to yell.
the truth at them. But what was the point?
I already made the decision to leave, there was
no point to keep fighting. I walked upstairs,
seeing Ashley’s door slightly ajar. I don’t know
why, but I stepped closer.
And there I saw Greg, on the bed with Ashley,
his clothes all messed up.
