I asked if he missed me. He said he was busy and told me not to dwell on romance all the time.
The front door lock clicked, and a small, chirpy voice rang out. "Mommy! I'm home!"
A little boy with a backpack came running inside, heading straight for Angelica's arms.
Angelica bent down and scooped him up, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Hey, sweetheart! How was school today? Were you good?"
The boy wrapped his arms around her neck, nuzzling against her. "Of course I was good! I saved the milk they gave us at school and brought it home for you, Mommy."
I stared at the red mole at the corner of his eye. My whole body wouldn't stop trembling.
The position and color of that mole were identical to what I'd seen in that last glimpse of my baby after I gave birth.
This boy was the child I'd nearly died delivering.
Yet he called Angelica "Mommy" so naturally, so affectionately, as if she really were his birth mother.
The nanny took the little boy to change his clothes. I forced the words out. "He doesn't look much like you."
Angelica sighed. "The poor thing had a rough start. His birth mother died of cancer."
"Kieran and I were afraid it would upset him, so we've always told people he's mine. He's been with me since before he can remember anyway. As far as he's concerned, I am his real mom."
My son didn't just not recognize me. He didn't even know his biological mother existed.
In all eight years of his memory, there had never been a person like me.
Angelica stood and headed toward the kitchen. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll squeeze some juice."
I noticed her cutting the oranges unevenly, fumbling with the juicer for a while before she got it started.
She looked a little sheepish and laughed. "I don't really do housework. We used to have a cook, but I'm so picky that Kieran just taught himself. Now he handles all three meals."
"He's actually amazing at it. Wait till he shows off later. You have to try his cooking."
Every word cut into me like a dull blade dragged slowly across my heart.
I used to have a bad stomach. I'd wake up in the middle of the night, doubled over in pain.
A few times, when it got unbearable, I asked Kieran to make me some porridge. He said he didn't know how.
Back then, I told myself he was just too busy with work. That it was normal for him to overlook small things like that.
The truth was, he simply hadn't cared enough about me.
Angelica handed me a glass of juice and grinned. "I always figured a guy like Kieran had to be a total nerd, no romantic bone in his body. But once we got together, I realized when he turns on the charm, it's almost too much."
She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her photo albums to show me.
In one picture, Kieran stood in a loud Hawaiian shirt in front of a music festival stage, surrounded by a sea of cheering people. He was waving a glow stick, grinning from ear to ear.
"Last year I was stressed out from work and couldn't shake this funk. He dragged me to Coachella. He ended up having more fun than I did."
She scrolled down further, and their marriage certificate filled the screen.
The date read March 12, 2018.
Three months after I was frozen, he had married someone else.
Angelica blushed slightly.
"It's kind of a funny story, actually. We met through work. Kieran came to our magazine for an interview, and I was the photographer assigned to his shoot."
"I'd just gotten out of a relationship at the time. Dating was the last thing on my mind. But he kept showing up at my studio, day after day, saying it was love at first sight. Two months after we met, we eloped."
My chest felt like a giant fist was crushing it. I could barely breathe.
When Kieran was chasing her, I had only just been frozen.
All those sweet nothings, that reckless pursuit, happened while I lay asleep.
His promises of waiting for me to wake up, of our family being whole again, were nothing but lies.
