The comments under the photo weren't congratulations—they were questions.
"Wait… is this for real??"
"The woman you're holding looks like Darrell's wife!"
"Don't say that. Could be her twin."
"But I remember Darrell said his wife's an only child. No twin."
I laughed—bitter, gutted—and left my comment: "You guessed right. The woman he's holding is my wife."
The moment I posted it, the same woman who'd hung up on me called back.
"Darrell, why the hell would you comment that on Victor's feed? You couldn't just say I was your wife's twin sister?"
"You that desperate to tell the whole world you got cheated on?"
"You want everyone laughing at you?"
"Victor's coworkers are ripping him apart because of what you wrote. You proud of yourself?"
Every single word was about protecting Victor. Not one syllable of guilt. Not one apology to me.
In that instant, the grief went flat. Dead water. My mother's death had made a lot of things clear.
My voice came out quiet, laced with something cold: "So you're afraid too. Afraid people you know will find out what kind of woman you really are. Having another man's baby before the divorce papers are even filed."
Charlotte's volume spiked. "Darrell, how am I a bad person?"
"Victor got hurt saving me—hurt down there. Shouldn't I at least give him a child to make up for that?"
"You know what, hearing you talk like this? You and your mother are the heartless ones."
"If you can't accept that I had a child for someone else, then let's just get divorced!"
Standing before my mother's cold remains, I laughed, low and sharp, and nodded. "Fine. Let's divorce."
Charlotte went silent for a long time. She couldn't believe it. The man who had loved her like she was the air he breathed had just agreed to let her go.
Then Victor's voice drifted in from somewhere beside her.
"Charlotte, come help me put some ointment on. I can't reach my back."
That was Charlotte. The second anything involved Victor, I ceased to exist. She forgot we were still on the phone.
"There. All done. Does it still hurt?"
"That doesn't hurt anymore. But something else does. You look really sexy in those pajamas."
"Victor, stop. I just had a baby."
I could hear their breathing getting heavier through the phone, and I didn't need to be in that room to know exactly what was happening.
"Charlotte, I really miss the time we spent together. I can't stop thinking about your body."
"Now that we have a child, you won't have to divorce him for the baby's sake…"
"Victor, I won't leave Darrell."
"There's no other man in the world who'd love me the way he does."
"I know he's angry right now and won't come around for a while. Once my recovery's over, I'll just go home."
I said nothing. I hung up.
Artificial insemination. That was what she'd told me. One more lie. Every night she said she was working late, she'd gone to Victor's bed to make that baby.
She'd been cheating on me for a long, long time.
I started to get up, but my phone buzzed with a message from Victor.
"You heard all that, right?"
"Hahahaha. Spineless little cuck. Wanna know how I fucked her?"
"While you were out working overtime, I had her pinned against the bathroom wall, kissing her."
"We did it in the office. In your bed. Even in your car. We left our marks everywhere."
"Remember that time at the supermarket? One box of condoms left on the shelf, and you handed it to me. I used them on your wife that same night."
My thumb crushed the screen dark. Both fists clenched so hard my knuckles ached. I was a second from breaking apart, but then I remembered where I was. My mother lay right in front of me. If her spirit was still nearby, watching her son fall to pieces would only break her heart all over again.
