Chapter 6 - THE OTHER WOMAN
The first hotel charge was from six months earlier.
The exact week Derek told me he had a conference in Cleveland.
Rachel sat beside me with her laptop open.
“Look at the dates.”
“I see them.”
“Same hotel three times.”
“I see them.”
“Megan.”
“I said I see them.”
My voice cracked.
Emily stirred against my chest.
I forced myself to breathe.
The credit card had been opened using my name, my date of birth, and our home address.
Paperless statements.
Autopay from the joint account.
Every piece designed so I wouldn’t notice.
But the purchases didn’t look like normal business expenses.
A jewelry store in Easton.
Four hundred eighty dollars.
A boutique hotel in Cincinnati.
Seven hundred.
A restaurant on Valentine’s Day.
Three hundred twelve.
Valentine’s Day.
Derek had brought me grocery-store flowers that night and complained that pregnancy had killed our sex life.
Rachel looked sick.
“You know what this is.”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“No.”
“You need to say it.”
I stared at the charges.
“He’s cheating.”
The words felt strangely small.
Compared with everything else, cheating almost seemed ordinary.
My phone was still off, but Rachel’s began buzzing.
Unknown number.
She ignored it.
Again.
Ignored.
Again.
Finally she answered.
“Hello?”
Her face changed.
“No, she’s not available.”
Pause.
“No.”
Longer pause.
Then Rachel’s eyes moved to me.
“Who is this?”
She listened.
Her expression went flat.
“Well, Kelly, that’s interesting.”
I sat up.
Kelly.
Derek’s executive assistant.
Rachel put the call on speaker.
A woman’s trembling voice filled the room.
“I didn’t know she was in labor.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Rachel asked, “Why would you need to know?”
Silence.
Then Kelly whispered, “Because he was supposed to be with me last night.”
There are moments when your heart breaks loudly.
Then there are moments when it simply stops making excuses.
I looked down at Emily.
Her tiny mouth opened in sleep.
“Put her through,” I said.
Rachel handed me the phone.
“Kelly?”
“Oh, God. Megan. I’m sorry.”
“How long?”
She started crying.
“How long?”
“About eight months.”
Eight.
Months.
My entire pregnancy.
“You knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know I was due?”
“Yes.”
I almost couldn’t form the next question.
“Was the client dinner real?”
“No.”
The room went silent.
“He told me you two were basically separated.”
“We slept in the same bed Tuesday.”
Kelly sobbed.
“He said you were unstable. He said you threatened him. He said he couldn’t leave until after the baby because you’d use the child against him.”
I closed my eyes.
Derek had built two versions of me.
One for his family.
One for his mistress.
In both versions, I was the problem.
“Why are you calling me?”
Kelly took a shaky breath.
“Because he scared me last night.”
My eyes opened.
“What did he do?”
“When he realized you were gone, he lost it.”
“How?”
“He started throwing things. He punched a wall.”
Rachel and I exchanged a look.
Kelly continued.
“Then he said something about making sure you couldn’t take what belonged to him.”
“What belonged to him?”
“The baby.”
My stomach clenched.
“And then,” she whispered, “he asked me if I knew how to find someone from an insurance claim.”
I stood so quickly the incision of pain across my body nearly folded me in half.
Because Emily had been admitted under Derek’s insurance.
May you like
And somewhere in Columbus, Derek had just realized he didn’t need me to tell him which hospital I was in.
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