The Broken Candle

I went into labor at the same time as the woman next door. My husband took me to the hospital, but I delivered a stillborn child.

Instead of comforting me, he lashed out, "Did you mess around while you were pregnant? Is that why you gave birth to such a monster?"

I lost my baby, my name was dragged through the mud, and I was forced to divorce him and leave with nothing.

One day, I happened to overhear my husband speaking to the neighbor:

"Good thing we swapped your stillborn baby with May's healthy one. If your in‑laws had looked closely, they would have realized the dead baby was actually ours."

That was when I finally understood the truth. They had been involved long before.

He pushed me on purpose, causing premature labor, just so they could take my healthy baby and give me her dead one.

When I confronted them, they held me down in the bathtub and drowned me.

Yet when I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day I went into early labor.

This time, I'll make sure she gives birth to that stillborn child.

This time, I will expose them both for their affair and for what they did to me.

Gasping for air, my chest crushed against the cold porcelain of the bathtub, I pleaded with Sean Charlton–my husband–to spare me for the love we once shared. However, Sean merely towered over me and eyed me with contempt, unmoved.

"May, I've put up with you for far too long. Flaunting your fancy job, dictating 'you're in charge of the world outside, I handle home affairs.' I'm the man! I'm no slave of yours!

"Rowena is different. She loves me, treats me like I'm her world, and gives me the dignity of a man."

Rowena, the neighbor I had always looked out for, stood smirking behind him. "Thanks a million for handing over such a catch, May. Oh, and those healthy kids, too. Without you, I'd be at a loss with my own dead baby."

I tried to fight back but was mercilessly pushed under the water.

In my final moments, I saw my real daughter, the one they had switched, screaming to stop those monsters, only to be struck until she bled from her mouth and nose...

In a blink, I was back to the day Sean had shoved me, triggering an early labor.

Sean was poring over my maternity records, suggesting eagerly, "May, Mom says today's the best day for it. What do you think? Maybe we could go ahead with a C-section?"

My mind raced. In my previous life, Sean had a friend in maternity who helped him swap my baby with Rowena Lowe's.

'If I just steer clear of that guy, can I keep my baby safe?' I wondered.

To avoid Sean's suspicion, I excused myself to the restroom and slipped away to the ground floor.

However, fate had other plans, and there I was, face-to-face with a frantic Sean in the ER.

I trailed behind him unnoticed and caught him in mid-conversation with a nurse.

"Evelyn, our dads are brothers! Remember, without the thirty grand I slipped you, you wouldn't even be working here. You owe me big time," Sean reminded his cousin.

"That woman thinks she's all that with her paycheck, ordering me around. If she has this kid, she'll leave everything to the little brat. I'll end up empty-handed after all these years!" he complained bitterly.

"The baby's not sitting right. I'll give her a little 'nudge' during labor to make sure things go south. Evelyn, you've got to back me up. We can't let her make it through this," he hissed.

Hearing Sean's venomous plot, it felt like my heart was being sliced open.

Sean was a good-for-nothing, really. No education, a rough family life with parents lost to gambling and booze.

I fell for him hard, blinded by his looks and willing to do anything for love. He turned up his nose at a regular job, so I busted my tail to be the breadwinner while he played king of the castle.

King, my foot. His royal duties were gaming and binge-watching, while I slaved away at work and then in the kitchen.

Last year, when I got pregnant, he conned me out of thirty thousand for 'baby insurance.' I had no clue that he was greasing palms to set up his cousin in the hospital, all part of a year-long scheme to get rid of me in the delivery room!

I swallowed the bile of betrayal, ready to bolt, but Sean caught on to me.

"May, what are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

I knew I was walking on thin ice. If I could not come up with a good excuse, Sean would not think twice before turning on me.