Chapter 1-The day that broke me

“Nichole! The test confirms you are 3weeks pregnant!”

“What? Pregnant?”

I had a flutter immediately in my stomach, not the baby, but the excitement when I heard the news.

My trembling hands caressed my belly, joy swelling in my heart.

The test results were real!

I will soon be a mother.

I am pregnant. With my child.

I saw the heartbeat flickered on the screen, a tiny life pulsing inside of me and for the first time in so long, I felt a little hope.

I hope that things will change now. This news could be the miracle that could fix my broken marriage. Maybe, just maybe, Donald would look at me with love again after countless of heartbreaks from the man I call by husband.

This has been my long expected wish.

For a heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe. I just stared at the x-ray screen, blinking through tears. “I’m Pregnant?” I whispered again, afraid the word would vanish if I said it too loudly.

“I can't wait to break the news to him”

I left the doctor’s office holding the ultrasound printout all the way home, my fingers tight around it, rehearsing how I’d tell him. I couldn’t stop smiling. Yes, my first real smile in the last 3years.

So three weeks of nausea, cravings, and exhaustion, was all worth it?

I stepped out immediately. Outside Montmartre city was drenched in rain as the streetlamps glowed gold against the cobblestone. I clutched the medical report, chuckling quietly through tears as I drove all the way home.

I reached our apartment, stepped down from the car and gave another glance at the scan result in my hands, still shocked whether the news is true or not. I walked immediately to the entrance door, my heart filled with joy.

On getting to the entrance door, I noticed something.

It was opened.

I saw slippers…

A lady's slippers, at the entrance door. I was bewildered. I held the lock to open the door, I noticed it was open too. What is going on?

I stepped inside.

“Honey?” I called softly, my voice shaking this time because something is definitely off.

I called again. There was no answer. Only soft jazz was heard, the kind Donald usually plays when he wants to drink.

Something in me stilled. At first I thought it was the neighbors or maybe not, or is my intuition playing on me?

I followed the music through the hallway. The scent of wine, the lilies that hung in the air.

As I stepped closer…

Then, my world dawned on me… I heard it.

Her moan… his growl. Skin to skin…strucking her sinfully without shame.

My heart lurched.  I knew that voice. It sounds familiar.

The hallway blurred as I moved toward the bedroom. Their trail of clothes scattering in the parlour led the way, his shirt, her scarf, his tie…then her purse. My pulse began to scream in my ears.

The door was half open, light spilling out, warm and golden, as I pushed it wider.

Then, I saw it…

My world collapsed in my eyes.

I saw him… I saw them, the man I’d built home with. The man I have loved with all my heart. The one I've given my world, fortune, my life, and now my unborn baby, in bed with another woman… NAKED…on our matrimonial bed.

Under him, I saw Beatrice, my best friend, moaning loudly as he plunged deep into her.

For a moment, my thoughts went blank as the world shredded in front of me.

My feet wobbled. I felt like falling, as my own voice sounded strange to my ears. I was losing it at this point.

Donald looked up first, as his eyes met mine. “Nichole!”

The envelope slipped from my hand, landing on the floor opened, the black letters bleeding through the white paper as it read…Pregnancy Report.

Beatrice shrugged under Donald, her expression unbothered, she didn't bother to cover herself, nor did she even flinch or blink.

My husband groaned as he stood, shoving Beatrice aside, not with regret but irritation.

“Who told you to barge in here?” He asked in annoyance,stepping forward with a venomous glare. He was bare and not even ashamed of it.

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came through, my words hung in, quivering with vulnerability and despair.

Tears blurred my vision. I managed to speak, but my mouth shook, as words forced to find its way from my mouth.

“Donald, how could you?”

I said, "What the hell are you doing here?" He yelled again.

“I... I was going to tell you,” I stammered, clutching my abdomen.

“I… I’m pregnant.”

He spat. “Pregnant? That's a joke,after everything you've made me go through?” he growled. “You think this will make you feel special and prove your love?”

“I'm carrying our child Donald.” I yelled in pain.

“You must be joking. Look, Nichole, you better go and look for who has that thing you have in there”

“Donald Stop! This is our baby… our child. No man has ever touched me aside from you. I responded amid tears as my feelings shattered.

My tummy wobbled in pain as I looked at my best friend, who shrugged, looking cool and unbothered. She sneered, wrapping my cloth on her body.

“Beatrice…I trusted you.” Tears rolled down my cheeks

“Trust?” she laughed, coldly and dismissive.

“Oh please Nichole, don't play the victim here. Maybe if you weren’t so heavy with your drama, Donald wouldn’t have needed a distraction.”

“Heavy? You don’t get to insult me in my matrimonial home Beatrice.” I snapped.

“I called you my friend and all you have to do is to stab me in the back by sleeping with my husband under my own roof?”

“Save it.” Donald’s voice cut through. “I’m done pretending to you Nichole. You just sucked the life out of everything. Beatrice, at least, knows how to enjoy it. You are a burden to my life Nichole, I regret ever marrying you.”

Beatrice’s smirk widened, her eyes glittering with cruel satisfaction.

Donald stepped forward, his face hard.

“I don't need you anymore Nichole”. “We moved on and so should you too. Now go in there, pack your things and leave my house, you disgust me.”

A sharp-searing pain ripped through me. My vision blurred with rage and hurt.

“I said, "Get out now!” he barked again.

Before I could say another word, he shoved me hard. I stumbled, missed a step and landed on the floor, my abdomen twisted.

Arrrrrrghhhh!!!!.... Donald!

I gasped, clutching my stomach. A dark stain bloomed on the carpet beneath me. My hand instinctively reached down and my hands greased with blood… my blood, staining my white dress

“Help ! Donald! Help me… the baby. Somebody should help!”

I was losing my breath.

Donald looked down, his eyes dark but void of regret, instead he reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. The acrid smell of burning tobacco filled the air.

He inhaled deeply, the cherry of the cigarette glowing in the dim light. "This is what happens when you barge into my privacy." He watched me writhe in pain.

Beatrice stood, unmoved, almost triumphant. “Maybe now you’ll finally shut up about being 'heavy.’”

In agony, I struggled for my life, darkness blurring my vision, my head hitting the ground. The pain was overwhelming. "Help me please..."

I managed to say one last word, but couldn't survive the pain anymore... I passed out.