The Missing Season

My throat tightened until it hurt.

I sat frozen, my body stiff as stone, and forced the words out.

"Why did you have to tell me today?"

Just a few hours ago, at our son Ethan's birthday celebration, she had smiled as she kissed me, saying the happiest thing in her life was having Ethan and me by her side.

Nancy Scott let out a quiet sigh.

"I was actually planning to keep it from you forever.

"The day I gave birth, I found out you had gotten into a terrible car accident while rushing back to me.

"Julian and Rory were with me. I realized I wasn’t worried about you at all."

My burning eyes blinked.

I remembered.

That day, I had been lying on an operating table. My broken ribs hurt so badly I could barely breathe. The nurses had called Nancy over and over again, but she never answered. All I could think about was that she was giving birth.

Even though I was terrified, I held on with the last bit of strength I had and signed the surgical consent form myself.

Her voice was soft, almost as gentle as the whispers she used to breathe into my ear.

"Do you know what I was thinking?

"When I heard you had almost died trying to get back to me, I actually felt sorry for Julian."

I stared at her in disbelief, wondering if I had heard her wrong.

"I was dying, yet you felt sorry for him?"

Nancy nodded.

"I felt bad that Julian was always rushing over to see me. He stayed with me for four years without ever having a place by my side. I felt like I had failed him.

"That day, while I was holding you and crying, I was comforting you, but all I could think about was how to make it up to Julian."

My fingernails dug deep into my palms.

I fought with everything I had to keep the tears from spilling over.

"Julian and his father drove my dad to jump off a building. You know that, so why did you cheat on me with him?"

Julian Carter was the son my mother had before she married my father.

Nancy glanced at Julian, looking almost helpless.

"I couldn’t help it. My dad has never liked you. After six years of marriage, you still haven’t learned how to win him over. I was caught in the middle.

"Being with Julian let me forget all my worries."

My father-in-law had never accepted me.

Nancy and I had been married for six years, yet we never had a child.

He had always believed I was the problem. No matter what I did, I was never good enough in his eyes.

Every time we visited the family estate, he would deliberately pick me apart, then make me kneel in the family chapel to reflect on my mistakes.

Nancy always comforted me, saying we could try IVF. I could not bear the thought of her suffering, so I refused.

She was the one who insisted on having a child for me.

To make things easier on her, I took every medication the doctors prescribed without complaint.

People mocked me behind my back, calling me less than a man. I endured every insult.

I never imagined that she had watched me suffer through all that humiliation while building a happy little family with Julian and his son behind my back.

It felt as though a giant hand had wrapped around my heart and squeezed it. The pain was so fierce I could barely catch my breath.

Nancy's eyes tightened with concern as she stepped toward me, reaching out to hug me.

"Samuel, if you can accept having a wife with two husbands, we don’t have to get divorced."

Something inside me finally shattered.

I shoved her away. "Have you forgotten what you promised me?"

Before I could finish, someone slammed into me. I crashed onto the floor. A sharp burst of pain blacked out my vision.

Then, I heard Julian crying.

"Samuel, Nancy has already sacrificed so much for you these past four years. She loves you so much. Why can’t you try to understand her?

"Or do you only care about yourself? Have you never cared about what Nancy wants?"

The woman who had sworn she would love me forever had fallen in love with my mother's illegitimate son.

Together, they had another illegitimate child behind my back, forcing me into the same nightmare my father had once faced, having to choose between family and responsibility.

Now, they wanted my understanding?

It felt like they were driving a knife straight through my heart.

I laughed out of sheer anger.

At the same time, tears poured uncontrollably down my face.

Nancy froze for a moment. She reached toward me, but impatience quickly flashed across her face.

"Think it over. When you’ve made your choice, let me know."

She walked out hand-in-hand with Julian and Rory.

The front door slammed behind them with a deafening bang.

The noise jolted my sleeping son awake. His heartbreaking cries filled the room. The piercing wails, mixed with the agony crushing my chest, tore me apart.

I clutched my son, Ethan, in my arms and broke down with him.

I had barely caught my breath after the chaos finally settled when my phone rang.

It was Nancy.

Her voice was low and filled with anger.