The Dream I Couldn't Wake From

The sound was so loud that every parent's head snapped in our direction.

Onstage, Wendy looked helplessly toward us.

Julian's face darkened. He grabbed me and forced me back into my seat. "What kind of occasion do you think this is? Daphne, have you no shame?"

Tears streamed down my face as I stared at him in despair.

Just before the awards ceremony began, Nathan had still been beside me, acting spoiled. "Mommy, they're going to invite the parents up later. Make sure you tell everyone how great I am!"

And now Julian was telling me that Nathan wasn't my son.

I had carried my child to full term. I'd suffered severe morning sickness for seven months and needed IV drips just to make it through. The son I'd endured all that to bring into the world had died the moment he was born?

I hadn't even gotten to touch his little face. Now I didn't even have a place where I could mourn him.

It was as if he'd never existed at all.

Julian saw how devastated I was and softened his voice. "Wendy and I originally planned to keep this from you for the rest of your life.

"I just couldn't bear to watch her instinctively reach for Nathan, only to pull her hand back in disappointment every time.

"I couldn't stand the envy and sadness in her eyes whenever she heard Nathan call you Mommy.

"And when I saw her dressed so beautifully today, smiling with such pride and happiness, I couldn't stop myself from telling you the tru—"

Before he could finish, I slapped him hard across the face and screamed through my tears, "If the children could have been switched, that means she and I were both pregnant at the same time.

"You're the person I love most, and she's the person I trust most! How could the two of you get together behind my back and betray me?"

I remembered how my drunken stepfather used to beat me when I was little.

Wendy had protected me without hesitation. She had thrown herself in front of me and taken the blow meant for me.

The scar hidden beneath the loose strands of hair across her forehead had been left behind that day.

I remembered how, in high school, my stepfather had tried to take advantage of me. Julian had risked his entire future when he stabbed him several times to protect me.

They were the two most important people in my life. Why would they do this to me?

I sobbed until my entire body trembled and waves of dizziness swept over me.

Julian kept his face turned to one side, as if he couldn't bring himself to look at me.

Wendy hurried over with Nathan's hand in hers. "What happened?"