Chapter 3

As soon as Odette hung up, the others gathered around again.

Someone studied her face and asked:

“Mrs. Rook, you don't look a day over twenty.”

“I can't believe you already have a child.”

This time, there was a little more genuine pleasure in Odette's smile.

She liked being told she was young and beautiful, too.

Romilly cut in proudly.

“My brother-in-law takes good care of her. Odette's already thirty—can you believe it?”

“Their daughter's six. And Odette's pregnant with their second baby.”

“She's already two months along and still looks this good.”

My mind went blank for a moment.

Stellan and I have been married for eight years, and his daughter with this woman is already six.

Now they were having a second child.

I'd had an unplanned pregnancy the year before, too.

I couldn't bear to end the pregnancy, but Stellan sat beside me and kept breaking down our finances for me:

“Honey, I want to keep this baby, too.”

“Of course I'd love for our daughter to have a little brother or sister.”

“But the company keeps losing money. I can only give you three hundred dollars a month.”

“Your take-home pay is forty-five hundred, but we've got a mortgage, and my mom can't go without her medication.”

“The whole family's living on your income now. How are you going to manage another child?”

“I can't bear to see you go through childbirth again, either. Watching you in so much pain last time, I didn't know what to do.”

The day our daughter was born, he'd cried outside the delivery room.

A nurse had even told me with a laugh that my husband was crying harder than I was—and I was the one giving birth.

At the time, I'd truly believed he couldn't bear to see me in pain.

Now I couldn't tell which moments had been real.

I'd listened to him and gone to a clinic to end the pregnancy.

Right after the procedure, he'd left on another business trip, and his mother had gotten sick.

Our daughter still had to go to school.

I hadn't even had a few full days to rest.

Thinking about every day I'd spent with him made me feel like a fool.

I steadied my voice and asked Odette:

“Your husband dotes on you. Your wedding must have been beautiful.”

Her smile faded a little.

“We haven't had a wedding yet. When we first got together, his company was just getting started, and money was tight.”

“He said we'd have the wedding after the second baby's born.”

“You're all invited.”

The conversation picked up again. A few people were already asking about the venue.

I joined in as if we were just making small talk.

“There aren't many men who still put you first once their business takes off.”

The bitter smile that had just disappeared returned to Odette's face.

She looked at me.

“People don't stay the same as when you first met them.”

“Companies change. People change.”

“Once a man has money, women always come around. Hotel bars, private parties—there are plenty of opportunities.”

She clearly knew Stellan wasn't faithful.

Someone beside her couldn't help asking:

“So what do you do?”

Odette sounded as though she'd settled that question long ago.

“What can I do? I'm his wife, and those women don't even get through my front door.”

“They're just women he takes to a hotel now and then for fun.”

“That's why I say learning to read the books is more useful than listening to a man tell you he loves you. People change, and so do promises.”

“Money in your own account is real. If he can afford to support more children, I'll have them.”

“If you don't have them, someone else will be happy to. I'd rather make sure our children's names are in his will and trusts than watch his money end up with someone else's family.”