Chapter 2
I tremblingly took screenshots to save all evidence, tears blurring my vision.
The latest message was from yesterday:
David: "The surgery was successful. Emma can never get pregnant again. You can come back now, my darling."
Lily: "I've already booked my flight, returning tomorrow. Our son really wants to meet his daddy."
Footsteps echoed from the hallway. David was returning.
I quickly closed the laptop, hid my phone, and collapsed back onto the bed.
David came in and saw my tear-stained face. He sat in the chair beside the bed and took my hand. "Emma... baby, I'm so sorry... we lost the baby."
David's voice trembled, and there were even tears in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Emma. I'm so sorry." David held me tightly, the "pain" in his voice sounding so real. "I will never leave you, we'll get through this. I promise."
My tears soaked through his shirt.
This murderer was actually putting on an act in front of me.
He sat beside the bed, personally feeding me porridge, his attentive manner absolutely disgusting.
"Drink slowly, don't burn yourself." He blew on the spoon to cool the porridge, then brought it to my lips.
I obediently opened my mouth, pretending to be weak as I accepted his care. He looked satisfied with my compliance.
"Emma, I've been thinking..." David put down the bowl and took my hand. "I thought of a way that might help you get through this pain."
I looked at him: "What way?"
"Do you remember your sister Lily?" David gently stroked the back of my hand. "I heard she has a child in Seattle, but she's too busy with work and has been looking for someone to help care for him. I was thinking, maybe we could take the child in and raise him, so you'd have a child for companionship."
I let tears well up in my eyes, my voice trembling: "You... you'd really be willing to do this for me?"
"For you, I'd do anything. The child needs a mother, and you need a child to heal your heart. It's win-win." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "I'll call Lily to arrange things with the child."
David's eyes gleamed with satisfaction - he thought he had successfully manipulated me again, but he didn't know I had already decided to leave.
After David left, I immediately took my phone from the bedside table. My fingers moved quickly across the screen.
"Father Mitchell, this is Emma. I need your help. Could I come stay with you for some quiet recovery time?"
David couldn't sit still by the third day after I was discharged from the hospital.
I heard him making excited phone calls in the living room. There was an eager urgency in his voice, like a child finally ready to show off his new toy.
"Mom, it's me. Yes, I want to arrange a family dinner this weekend... What? Of course I have good news to tell you all!"
So impatient, afraid I might change my mind? I sneered inwardly while continuing to chop vegetables.
"Emma, come here!" David called me from the living room.
I walked over. He was sitting on the sofa with that self-satisfied, smug smile on his face.
"I think we should let Mom and Dad know about the child's existence, and you miss them too, don't you?" He said while watching my reaction.
I nodded with feigned delight: "Yes, I do miss them."
Miss them? I wanted to see just how cold they could still be toward me.
David patted my hand with satisfaction and immediately dialed another number: "Lily? It's me, David. You can bring the child back now, Emma agreed. Yes, this weekend, we'll arrange a family dinner... Mm, let both sets of parents meet little Oliver."
I watched his beaming expression, feeling a wave of nausea rise in my chest.
Saturday evening, the Sullivan family living room was filled with various exquisite foods. Mom wore her best outfit, and Dad had even bothered to shave. The whole house radiated a deliberately crafted warm atmosphere.
When the doorbell rang, Mom practically ran to answer it.
"Lily! My baby!" There was a tenderness in Mom's voice I'd never heard before. "Come in quickly, it's cold outside. Where's the child? Where's the child?"
I stood in the living room watching this scene, feeling like something had violently struck my heart.
Lily walked in carrying a baby in swaddling clothes, wearing that familiar fragile smile. "Mom, this is little Oliver."
"Oh my God!" Mom took the child, her eyes misting up. "Look at this little face, how beautiful! Emma, come quickly and see, this is your... I mean, this is our grandson!"
I walked over and looked down at the little baby. He was indeed adorable, with a pink little face and long eyelashes. But complex emotions surged in my heart.
"He's a beautiful child." I said softly.
Dad also leaned in, his expression softer than I'd ever seen: "Lily has suffered outside, but this child is definitely a Sullivan family grandson! No question about it!"
David walked to Lily's side and naturally put his arm around her shoulders: "Yes, we'll all take good care of them."
I watched this scene, bitterness rising in my heart. What a warm picture, just like a real family.
"Emma, why such an ugly face? Who are you showing that to?" Dad suddenly turned to me, impatience in his voice. "Look at Lily, see how understanding she is. Can't you learn from her?"
If your own womb wasn't so useless that you couldn't even keep a child, would our family need to go to all this trouble? It's your good fortune that Lily is willing to raise a child for you, how dare you show such a face?
My face flushed instantly red, but I still tried to stay calm: "I'm very grateful to Lily."
"Thank you for understanding, sister." Lily said gently, but I noticed the flash of smugness in her eyes when she looked at David.
Throughout the entire dinner, everyone's attention was on Lily and the child. Mom kept praising how virtuous and self-sacrificing Lily was; Dad kept saying the child looked like David and would definitely be successful; David was even more attentive to Lily, serving her food and pouring her water.
And I, like an extra person, sat in the corner silently eating.
This was my family gathering. I smiled bitterly to myself.
