Ethan was ready to become a father until a nurse threw him out of the delivery room, saying he wasn’t the baby’s biological father. Ethan is shocked and unable to comprehend her words. But what about his wife? And the baby? Ethan is left to make impossible choices while a shocking revelation changes everything…
Ethan was ready to become a father until a nurse threw him out of the delivery room, saying he wasn’t the baby’s biological father. Ethan is shocked and unable to comprehend her words. But what about his wife? And the baby? Ethan is left to make impossible choices while a shocking revelation changes everything…
Four years. That’s how long I had loved her. That’s how long Julia had been my entire world.
And for the past nine months, that love had only grown larger than life.
From the moment we saw the little blue plus sign, I was in awe of my wife. The way she’d hold her stomach when she thought nobody was paying attention. How she used to hum to our baby all day.
And how she’d cry over dog food commercials and blame it on hormones. The way she laughed when I read her parenting books with the seriousness of a man studying for the bar exam, multiple highlighters included.
This was supposed to be our greatest moment. The one we’d been waiting for as we slipped into the role of parents
“We’re going to be those parents who love our kids more than life itself,” Julia said one evening when she was sitting on the couch, holding her stomach.
“I’m not sure if we’re going to be the best parents,” I laughed. “But we’ll try our hardest.”
“Ethan,” she said softly. “There’s no better father I’d want for this little guy.”
I had been by Julia’s side the entire hospital stay, never leaving except to dash home for a shower or a quick store run when she needed something. We had spent the last week at the hospital because Julia’s blood pressure kept dropping dangerously low. It was the safest place we could be.
The nurses teased me about it, especially one. Maggie.
“Aren’t you sick of Ethan yet?” she’d joke to my wife. “Let me know if you want me to lock him out.”
Julia laughed, her laugh taking over the room.
“Never!” she said. “Who will bring me my chocolate-covered strawberries? I can’t believe that’s one of this little guy’s final cravings.”
“Your husband will probably buy a chocolate fountain,” Maggie laughed.
Maggie had felt like an older sister, always ready to help us, always there with a smile.
Until that night.
I must have passed out from exhaustion. I don’t even remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, the room was empty, and I heard frantic voices outside.
“It’s time! The baby has to come out now! I need someone to monitor her BP. Now! Move!”
I shot up, my heart pounding, and ran to the delivery room. My wife was already under anesthesia, her face pale but peaceful.
That wasn’t according to plan. We were supposed to have a natural birth. I just wanted to go up to her and hold onto her hand tightly.
“Get out of here, Ethan!”
I froze. Maggie stood between my wife and me, her eyes blazing.
“What? Why? Maggie, it’s me!” I said, breathless. “I’m her husband. I’ve been part of the birthing plan since the beginning! You know this!”
But her face didn’t soften.
“Only the baby’s real father can stay!” she yelled.
The words didn’t register. Or my brain refused to allow them.
“What did you just say?”
“Sir, you need to leave,” she insisted.
She shoved me back. Like, actually shoved me! The woman who had laughed with me, reassured me, and treated me like family was kicking me out of my wife’s delivery.
“What does that mean?!” I roared.
But before I could demand an answer, the doors slammed shut in my face.
I paced up and down the hallway about a hundred times. My hands shook. My head pounded.
This had to be a mistake.
My wife had never given me a reason to doubt her.
Never!
Or had she? Maybe I had brushed it off?
No. No. This was insane. This was Julia we were talking about. The woman who stopped on the street to pet every dog or stray cat. She tossed breadcrumbs onto our back porch for birds. She would never cheat on me.
