After five years of heartbreak, Carol becomes pregnant, but keeps it a secret until she is sure. At the ultrasound, her joy turns to ice when she sees her husband, Ronald, tenderly embracing a pregnant woman. Who is she? Carol follows them… and discovers a truth she never expected.
My hands were shaking as I placed the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter. The last half-decade had been an endless cycle of disappointment, but this morning was different. I watched, barely breathing, as two pink lines appeared.
I wanted to tell Ronald immediately. He had been my rock throughout the whole process: the treatments, the tears, the midnight crises when I got my period again.
But after so many failures and disappointments, I needed to be sure. One more disappointment could destroy us both.
So I made an appointment for an ultrasound and told him I had a dental cleaning. The lie tasted bitter, but I convinced myself it would be worth it when I could give him real, concrete news.
In the hospital, the technician’s wand glided over my belly.
“There,” he said, pointing. ‘See that flutter?’
I squinted and saw it. A tiny, rapid pulse. A heartbeat.
“My God,” I breathed.
Joy blossomed in my chest, pure and perfect. After five years of trying, I was finally going to be a mother!
I floated out of the examination room, my hand resting on my still flat stomach. I was already planning how to tell Ronald. Maybe I’d wrap the ultrasound as a gift, or…
The idea vanished as I turned the corner. At the end of the corridor, near the obstetrics waiting room, was Ronald. My Ronald. But he wasn’t alone.
His arms were around a young, heavily pregnant woman. His hands were resting protectively on her swollen belly, and his expression… I knew that expression. It was the same tender look he gave me when I was upset or scared.
It wasn’t a casual hug between acquaintances. It was intimate. Familiar.
I ducked behind a vending machine before they could see me, my pulse pounding so hard I could hardly hear anything else. Who was she? Why was Ronald here instead of at his office, where he said he would be?
The woman said something I couldn’t hear, and Ronald laughed. It was his real laugh too, not the polite one he used with customers. My stomach churned.
They started walking towards the exit. I had to know what was going on, so I did something I never thought I would do.
I took out my cell phone and ordered an Uber while I followed them down the corridor. I was determined to find out where they were going.
In the parking lot, Ronald helped the woman into her car with such delicacy that I felt physically ill. When my Uber arrived, I slipped into the back seat, my hands trembling as I clutched my purse.
“Follow that blue sedan,” I said to the driver, feeling as if I had stepped into a strange movie. ”Please.”
The driver nodded and we set off.
My stomach churned as Ronald entered the driveway of a small, unfamiliar house. The morning light caught the profile of the woman smiling at him, and my nausea intensified.
“Stop here,” I said to the driver, my fingers trembling as I took my bag. ”I can walk from here.”
I got out and saw how Ronald helped the woman out of the car, his hand on her lower back as they walked towards the front door. The gesture was so intimate, so familiar, that it made my chest ache.
I took a deep breath, but couldn’t calm my racing heart. When I got to the door, I knocked before losing my nerve.
The door flew open and there was Ronald, his face the palest shade of pink I’d ever seen.
“Carol?” His voice cracked. ‘What are you doing here?”
“I think it’s my line,’ I said, pushing him into the house.
The pregnant woman was standing in the living room, one hand protectively cradling her belly. She was young, maybe in her twenties, with fair skin and bright eyes that opened wide when she saw me.
She was beautiful in that natural way that made my forty years seem like a lifetime.
“I’ve just come from the ultrasound,” I announced, my voice trembling. ‘You know, because I’m pregnant too.”
Ronald’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. But the young woman? She did something totally unexpected.
She laughed. ’Are you Carol?”
Before I could process what was happening, she crossed the room and hugged me. I stood there, rigid as a board, my mind unable to assimilate that reaction.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, taking a step back. Suddenly, the room seemed too small, too warm.
Ronald ran a hand over his face, a gesture so familiar that it made my heart ache. “Carol, please. Let me explain.”
“Are you pregnant?” asked the young woman, her eyes shining with emotion. She bounced slightly on the tips of her toes, reminding me of an eager puppy.
I nodded, still completely lost in that strange situation.
“It’s incredible,“ she exclaimed. ‘That means our children will grow up together as real siblings!”
My breath caught in my throat. ’What?”
“Not siblings, but family.” Ronald’s voice was full of emotion as he spoke. “This is my daughter, Carol.”
I looked at the young woman again, this time really looking at her. The same warm brown eyes as Ronald’s. The same slight dimple on her left cheek when she smiled. How had I not seen it before?
“I’m Anna,“ she said softly, taking my hand. Her fingers were warm and slightly callused.
“I never told you because I didn’t know until recently,” Ronald explained, coming closer to us.
His shoulders were tense, but his eyes contained a mixture of relief and fear. “Anna’s mother and I were dating before we met you. She never told me she was pregnant.”
Anna’s voice was soft as she added, ‘Mom passed away a few months ago. Breast cancer.’ She swallowed with difficulty. ”I found Dad’s name on my birth certificate while going through his things. He didn’t have anyone else.”
“So all those times you said you were working late…“ I began, remembering the missed dinners and the distracted calls.
“I was trying to build a relationship with my daughter,” Ronald finished. “And now I’m about to become a grandfather. And a father.” He laughed, but it sounded more like a sob.
I sank into the nearest chair, my legs suddenly weak. The cushion gave a soft sigh beneath me, and I noticed distractedly that the fabric was covered in paint splatters. “I thought… I was so sure…”
“That he was having an affair?” asked Anna, sitting down next to me. Her presence was strangely comforting. “God, no. He talks about you constantly. Carol this, Carol that. It’s actually a bit annoying, considering I’ve been bugging him for years to meet you.”
A laugh erupted from my chest, surprising even myself. It started small, but grew until tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Ronald said later, as we sat around Anna’s kitchen table drinking chamomile tea. She had insisted that it was better for our two babies than coffee. ”I was trying to figure out how to introduce you two. I wanted to do it right.”
“Following you in an Uber probably wasn’t the right way either,“ I admitted, warming my hands on the cup.
“Are you kidding?” Anna smiled. “It’s the best story ever. Wait until I tell my baby that her grandmother thought her grandfather was cheating on her, but that she’s just found out that she’s going to be a grandmother too.”
“Grandmother?“ I repeated, feeling the word strange on my tongue. ‘I hadn’t thought about that part yet.’ The idea made me feel both ancient and strangely excited.
“You’d better get used to it,” said Ronald, taking my hand over the table.
His wedding ring caught the light from the window of Anna’s kitchen. “In two months you will be a stepmother and a grandmother. And in seven months you will also be a mother.”
I squeezed his hand, thinking how differently this day could have ended. Instead of discovering betrayal, I would have discovered family. Instead of losing my husband, I would have gained a stepdaughter.
The fear and anger of the morning now seemed like a distant dream, replaced by something warm and unexpected.
“So,” said Anna, interrupting my thoughts, ”do you want to go shopping for the baby together? We have to buy at least one set of matching baby bodysuits. I found an amazing shop in the center that has the cutest things.”
And just like that, I realized that family really does find its way. Sometimes it just takes a wrong guess and a lot of courage to find it.