"So what if he's asleep? Wake him up. I didn't come all this way for nothing."
I pressed my weight against the door, refusing to let her in.
"Mom, he's really sleeping. Please come back tomorrow."
Jean's face collapsed into something ugly. She whipped out her phone and dialed.
"Nelson, sweetheart, look at the wonderful wife you married. I came to celebrate Tommy's birthday, and she won't even let me see him!"
She shoved the phone in my face. I heard silence on the other end, a few seconds of nothing, then two words: "Wait there."
Jean let out a cold laugh. She didn't leave. She just planted herself in the doorway like a guard dog with something to prove.
About fifteen minutes later, Nelson came back.
He wasn't alone.
Behind him stood Eunice Summers, makeup flawless, poised and haughty as ever.
I genuinely hadn't expected him to be shameless enough to bring her to our home. My whole body trembled with rage.
"Nelson, what is this woman doing here? What the hell is going on?"
He didn't even look at me.
"What's going on? Mom comes to see the kid and you won't let her?"
I didn't answer. I stared at him, unblinking.
"When did you start seeing Eunice? We're still married!"
"I already gave you the divorce papers. Who I'm with has nothing to do with you anymore."
"Why?" My fists clenched so tight my nails bit into my palms. "You two broke up years ago. If you still loved her, why did you come after me?"
Nelson let out a mocking laugh.
"Come after you?"
"Norma, when I ran into you again, I thought you were a novelty. A few years out of high school, and sure, you'd gotten prettier."
"But you never even went to college. Every single day with you was torture."
"Do you know what it's like when two minds truly connect? I only feel that with Eunice."
Eunice tugged lightly at his sleeve. "Nelson, there's no need for this."
"No. I want her to know exactly what she is."
"Nagging, hovering, can't do a single thing right."
"Your parents made the right call back then. You couldn't even handle the SATs. Even with a whole extra year to study, you still would've bombed."
The shouting in the living room woke Tommy.
He came shuffling out, rubbing his eyes, bare feet padding across the floor.
He saw the people in the living room, froze for a second, then his eyes lit up.
"Daddy! Mama Eunice! Did you come to bring Tommy presents?"
That tiny voice hit me like thunder.
I swallowed my shock, crouched down in front of him.
"Tommy, what did you just call that woman?"
A flicker of unease crossed Nelson's face, but before he could say a word, Tommy chirped again:
"Daddy always takes me and Mama Eunice to the park! And Mama Eunice buys me lots and lots of toys!"
My mind went blank. A roar filled my ears.
"Nelson. What is this?"
He dropped the act entirely. He walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Well, since it's all come out anyway, I might as well tell you."
He reached over and pulled Eunice against him by the waist.
"Tommy's so smart, so adorable. You really think he could be yours and mine? He's mine and Eunice's."
A buzzing filled my head.
"That's impossible..."
"When we did the IVF, the embryo they implanted in you was fertilized with my sperm and Eunice's egg."
His tone was perfectly calm.
"The breakup was all an act for your benefit. Eunice is afraid of pain. I couldn't bear to put her through ten months of pregnancy."
"And then you came along. That's how you got the honor of marrying me."
The last time I'd seen Nelson before all this was at a hospital, years after high school.
