Chasing His Rejected Wife

I sagged against the wall of the clinic, not trusting my legs to carry me any further without collapsing into a heap on the floor.Slowly, as though in a slow-motion video, I lifted the picture clutched tight in my left hand and stared at the black and white mass that the nurse had handed over to me after the doctor had pronounced the four words that I had not been expecting at all.Disbelief shock and a dozen other thoughts waged a battle in my head. My most prominent thought was 'How?' How could I have gotten pregnant?That was a silly question, really. After all, I knew all about how babies were made, I wasn't that naive. Still, it had been just the one time, my first time. One time.A headache bloomed in my temples and I sighed and let my eyes drift shut.Unconsciously, I crumpled the paper in a tight fist, fighting the surge of tears that stung my lids. This was not the time to give in to bouts of self-pity, I had to figure out what to do, how to break the news to Aiden, and brac

I woke to the sound of thunder, my heart hammering in my chest, senses still groggy from sleep taking a second to go on alert.A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a split second, revealing the thick lines of rain water that ran down the windows, and the branches of the Sequoia tree swaying drunk in the storm. Another loud rumble had me cringing, clutching the duvet to my chest, eyes instinctively slamming shut at the sound. Unbidden, a whimper escaped my mouth, small and pathetic in the expanse of my bedroom.I forced myself to take a deep breath, in an effort to calm the panic that clutched at my throat, and frayed my nerves. It was so silly, being afraid of thunderstorms, a fear that had followed me from childhood well into adulthood. Another flash of lightning had me scrambling off the bed, nearly tripping over the sheets as I lunged to the window to pull the blinds closed. I slowly moved away from the windows and stood in the middle of the room, for a couple seconds, han

Nausea swirled in my stomach as I watched the way Aiden and Elisa looked so comfortable together. Elisa was showing him something on the screen of an ipad, and Aiden gave her his full attention, turning his head to look at her, a soft smile playing on his lips as she talked animatedly.They sat on high kitchen stools so close together that their legs and arms brushed against each other with every move. Elisa's beautiful face glowed with health and warmth, eyes twinkling with happiness as she talked to my husband, body unconsciously leaning towards him.They looked like the perfect couple. Elisa Harding was the quintessential classic beauty - hair the color of warm honey, blue eyes that held a shrewd intelligence and a body that could grace the catwalks of a Victoria's secret fashion show. Her looks complimented Aiden's in a way that I never could.Aiden must have said something funny because Elisa laughed, the sound rich and echoing in the huge kitchen space. She placed a manicured ha