On the second day after giving birth, my husband, who had been living in another city, suddenly brought home a five-year-old daughter. That was when I found out he had been married before and had an ex-wife.
Everyone told me to endure it for the sake of the child, but I cried myself to sleep every night, while he remained indifferent.
Then came the day of my discharge from the hospital. He never showed up to pick me up. Instead, I ran into him and his ex-wife in the parking lot. They were tangled together in the most intimate way inside his car.
"My husband, what do you think your wife would do if she found out that the egg used in her IVF treatment was actually mine? That the baby she carried for ten months is really ours? Wouldn't she lose her mind?" the ex-wife said.
"Wouldn’t that be perfect? Saves me the trouble of figuring out how to divorce her," my husband said.
Then he added, "This is all because of you … if only you were not afraid of pain and did not want to ruin your figure, I wouldn't do it. I did all this for you! Now that it’s finally over, you’d better reward your dear husband properly!"
The car shook in front of me and the sound of their panting filled the air.
The husband I once believed to be devoted and loving had only seen me as a vessel to give birth.
——
The car windows fogged up layer by layer.
I lowered my gaze to the newborn in my arms as my heart sank into a dark abyss and the joy of being a first-time mother vanished in an instant.
"You're amazing," the woman said. "You swapped her prenatal folic acid for birth control pills and made her think she was the one with fertility issues."
The woman's voice dripped with smug delight. Then she asked, "When are you planning to divorce her?"
There was a brief pause before the man spoke, his tone devoid of any warmth, "After her postpartum recovery period."
He said it with just a few cold, heartless words.
I found it hard to believe that the man inside that car was my supposedly gentle and responsible husband, Mario Lombardi.
We had met through a blind date and he had pursued me relentlessly. When he pursued me, Mario showered me with gifts and flowers and rushed back from his work even though he had gone overseas just to spend the holidays with me.
His parents, family and friends all thought highly of him and even I had drowned in his sweet lies.
Three months after the first time we met, we got married in a flash. However, despite everything I did, I never got pregnant.
Mario's mother had been desperate for a grandchild, so to settle things once and for all, Mario decided to go through IVF to have a son.
I could still recall vividly the endless injections, the excruciating pain of egg retrieval as well as the crushing disappointment because of repeated failures and countless emotional breakdowns. I had endured all of it.
However, I had reached the point where I could endure no more.
I walked farther away and took out my cell phone to call Mario. Unsurprisingly, he rejected the call. When I tried again, his phone was already turned off.
Left with no choice, I took my baby home. I never expected to find my house in complete chaos. Mario's five-year-old daughter was there. She was playing with everything she could get her hands on. My clothes, makeup and handbags had all been dumped on the living room floor.
Rage ignited within me and I couldn't hold back my anger. I shouted at the little girl, "Who gave you permission to touch my things?"
The little girl turned around and burst into tears.
"Kelly Taylor, what do you think you’re doing?" a cold voice sounded behind me. When I turned around, I saw Mario and his ex-wife, Lilith Palmer.
Lilith was dressed in a sleek black Chanel-style outfit, her figure curvaceous and flawless. She was nothing like a woman who had given birth.
Mario's words from earlier echoed in my head. My mind raced as I remembered what he had said at that time, about the fact that Lilith refused to have another baby to maintain her figure. My breath stuck in my chest.
Lilith glanced at me indifferently. As she walked past, she deliberately tilted her neck to reveal fresh red kiss marks on her porcelain skin.
I gritted my teeth, my fingers tightened around my baby. My heart filled with all kinds of feelings.
"Tara, don’t cry. Mommy’s here."
