MasukClaire's life takes a wild turn when she's forced to replace her runaway stepsister at the altar. She marries Sean, a guy who's made it clear he's only settling for her as a last resort. But Claire's got a plan: try hard enough, and maybe love will magically grow. Things seem to be looking up until tragedy strikes. Sean's first love comes back, pregnant with his child, and Claire's tossed aside like trash. Hurt, abandoned, and blamed for everything, Claire walks away with nothing but her pride. Fate brings them face-to-face again a few years later. Old wounds reopen, secrets come to light, and a child stands between them. Now Claire must decide: does love deserve a second chance, or are some betrayals just too much to forgive?
Lihat lebih banyakI sat at the living room patiently waiting for when my husband would return home, Sean
was arriving very late from work every now and then. I sighed and turned on my phone to check for any message from him but there was none and he hadn’t reply to the ones I sent too. I rested my head on the chair and closed my eyes. I don’t know how much time had passed when the front door opened with a click He entered still looking put together in a white dress shirt and black pants his jacket hanging on his arm. Our eyes met and I smiled at him but he didn’t return the gesture. Ive been waiting for him all night and he couldn’t even smile back at me. “Why are you back so late?” I said walking towards him to take his jacket from him but he walked pass me ignoring my attempt to help “Why are you still awake Claire?” He asked avoiding my question,and walking towards the stairs “I was waiting for you” i stated “I even made you your favorite” I added with excitement walking towards the stair closer to him. “ Im not hungry,and Ive told you to stop waiting for me.” he replied and walked up the stairs to our bed room The shower ran for exactly seven minutes. It was always seven minutes,Ive counted it several time I stood at the foot of the stairs with my hands still stretched out wishing he had handed his jacket to me then kissed me In the forehead,apologizing for not calling or reply to my messages all day but that was my delusion speaking. Sean had never reached back. He was polite the first two months of our marriage, then I got pregnant and he was more than polite and I thought we were making progress and that finally he was going to love me,he actually cared or should I say he only cared about the baby, so when we lost the baby the situation got worse. I had spent the past few months translating his indifference into devotion because that was what good wives in families like ours were taught to do: if a woman cant keep her husband happy then she has failed being a woman. I heard the water shut off. Footsteps. The guest room door closed with a soft, final click. Only then did I move and walked to the position I was waiting for him to come home, still processing the faintly smell of his cologne and someone else’s perfume (something floral and expensive I would never wear). I sat there and let down a few tears,it was all my fault,I wasn’t good enough,too plain and too ordinary of cause Sean couldn’t love someone like me. “But I wasn’t going go give up,I’ll fight for our marriage,I love him and I’ll make him love me too” I thought as I wiped my tears away He is going to love me. He is going to care for me. And tomorrow im going to wake up then make sure his breakfast is ready,work clothes prepared,lunch packed and ready for him. He’d see me,it’s just a little time and he’d love me because I love him and I don’t know what I’ll do without him. “Tomorrow will be a great day” i smiled standing up and going to our bedroom,he isn’t sleeping next to me tonight but he will soon,with all these thoughts and hope in my heart I laid in the bed, imagining all the good memories we were going to be having soon. I was going to be a great wife so Sean will love and care for me,I just have to do better,Ive been a bad wife and I have to Improve and do better. I won’t even care about the perfume that didn’t belong to him or me,if I was a better wife all that wouldn’t have happened. My phone light up indicating I had a message,I picked it up hoping to see Jane’s message,no one ever texted me if not Jane she was my best friend and the only one who cared about me after my mothers death,dad only ever texted me when he needed me for something or when he could rub the love he had for his wife and other daughter in my face. My stepmom and stepsister don’t like me at all to want to text me. I sat up seeing the message was from my dad “be home tomorrow” it read, I wonder what it is now, I hated going home. After my mom died when I was fifteen,my dad remarried my stepmother and she had a daughter my age, but they didn’t like me,I didn’t even do anything to them they just hated me and my dad didn’t care about me in the first place to want to care about why they treated me like shit. I didn’t send a response but I would go,I could never say no to my dad hoping that one day he’ll see me and love me like a father should love his daughter. All night I couldn’t sleep,I was trying to think what could this meeting probably be about. Whenever I’m called home,it’s always never good and I’m always the one to get hurt. I laid there staring at the moon through the balcony glass wishing tomorrow will be a good day.Chapter six My heart sank hearing that line “Julie is pregnant with my child.”I stood rooted in place, unable to move, the suitcase laying in front of me waiting for me to resume my packing. The words rang so loud in my ears that I thought I was about to lose my hearing ability. Pregnant. Not a brief reunion. A baby. His baby. With Julie, the woman who’d walked away from him at the altar in a white dress that cost more than my entire wardrobe, the woman whose name still made Sean’s eyes soften in a way my name never did.My mind flashed backward to the pictures I had seen hidden in his drawers; Julie laughing on a beach in a very sexy bikini, skin glowing with Sean’s arm around her waist. I had stared at the pictures until my vision blurred, then quietly slid the drawer shut and pretended I hadn't seen them. I told myself it was the past. I told myself I could change history.Now history was repeating itself.I finally came back to my senses. I turned to Sean slowly. Tears rolled do
Sean stood there, jaw clenched. The anger I had just shown him was a shocker to him. I had always been gentle and calm to him, so he probably wasn’t expecting all this from me. Something flickered in his eyes. Something that looked almost like shame. Good. He wasn’t the only one who was ashamed, because I was ashamed of myself for letting myself believe someone like him could be capable of loving me.I didn’t wait for him to speak. I turned my back on him, walked to the kitchen counter, picked up the plate, and dumped it all in the trash. Tears threatened to leave my eyes because I’d spent two hours preparing his favorite garlic butter steak, truffle mashed potatoes, the stupid little rosemary sprigs I’d arranged like I was still trying to win a man who had never been mine to begin with.One by one, I dropped every piece into the trash. “Claire…” His voice was quieter now. “Don’t,” I said without turning around. I couldn’t even hear his voice without being angry. “Don’t you dare sa
“I want a divorce,” Sean said in an emotionless voice.I knew this was coming. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. I had been preparing myself for this conversation for a while, but I was still trembling with pain. The moment I heard that Julie, my stepsister, was back in town, I knew the divorce conversation would be next. I dropped my spoon and tucked my hands under the table. He had just gotten home from work, and we were having dinner. I had prepared his favorite meal. I lifted my head and looked him straight in the face, trying desperately to hold back my tears. With shaking lips, I asked, “Why?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him. “You… you know we didn’t get married because of love. I only married you because your sister left. We can’t go on like this, and our baby that we lost… we’ve been miserable for months now,” he said outright.The tears I’d been fighting threatened to break free as the memories I had tried so hard to bury came flooding
The dinner was apparently a celebration.Father had called it “a small family meal’ to welcome Julie home.”He hadn’t warned me. No one had. But then again, it was my fault, because as always I was expecting too much from my dad.I was already seated when they walked in together. Father, Stepmother, and Julie, looking amazing in a red sleek dress.For one heartbeat I thought I was seeing a ghost.Then Julie looked over at me, then smiled politely. If you were seeing us for the first time, you would think she liked me, and I understood.Father didn’t bother acknowledging me. He pulled out Julie’s old chair, the one directly across from mine, and said, “Sit, my dear. You’re finally where you belong.”Stepmother’s eyes flicked over me. I knew nothing good was going to come out of her mouth. “Claire, you’re not looking very good. Are you ill again?” Again.As though the night I was rushed to the hospital four months ago, bleeding and shaking, had been nothing more than a dramatic episode
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