Stolen Babies: My Wife's Six Lies

Alan's POV

"Why is that man crying?"

A child's voice rang out. Everyone turned to see who the oldest boy was pointing at.

The moment they saw me, their smiles vanished.

Hannah Leywood was the first to react. She hurriedly pulled all six children behind her and looked at me in panic.

She stammered, "A-Alan…"

I stared at the little faces peeking out from behind her, and tears immediately filled my eyes.

"They're my children, aren't they?" I asked.

Hannah couldn't bring herself to meet my eyes. Her gaze was troubled. "They're your flesh and blood, but they're not your children. Cody is their father."

"How can you say that?" A pain shot through my lower back. "I took care of you through every pregnancy until I made myself sick! How can you expect them to call someone else their father?"

With trembling hands, I pulled the lucky charm from around my neck and held it out to the oldest boy, my eyes full of hope.

"Shawn, you moved so much when your mom was pregnant with you," I said. "I was afraid something would happen to you, so I went and got this for you.

"I used to talk to you every day when you were in your mom's belly. Do you remember?"

I took a few careful steps toward him. Before I could get closer, a toy car slammed into my forehead.

Its sharp edge split my brow, and blood ran into my eye.

Shawn Leywood clung to Cody Shale's leg, glaring at me with fear and hostility. "You're not my daddy. You're a bad man who takes children away!"

The other children copied him and started throwing whatever they could grab at me.

"Enough!" Hannah stopped them and reached over to wipe the blood from my forehead. "Alan, they're still young. Don't scare them."

I grabbed her wrist, digging my nails into her skin. "Why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me every time that the baby had been stillborn?"

Every time Hannah got pregnant, I dropped everything to take care of her.

Yet, every time she gave birth, I waited outside the delivery room only to hear that we had lost the baby. They told me everything had already been taken care of because they were afraid I'd be devastated.

I went through the agony of losing a child six times in eight years. Each time, it tore me apart a little more.

Meanwhile, Cody was the one getting to enjoy a life with my children.

Hannah opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could say anything, my older sister, Margot Shale, spoke up. Her tone was full of accusation.

"Why else? Because you deserve to pay for what you did! You pushed Cody into a freezing lake at your birthday party just because he was wearing the same outfit as you.

"You left him unable to have children. These six kids are what you owe him."

I owed him?