Chapter 3

"Camile, did you ever love me?"

She seemed thrown by the question. After a moment, Camile answered, her voice full of feeling.

"Of course I love you. Why else would I have married you? It's just that this baby is my dream. Let me have this one thing."

What a ridiculous excuse. Once this child was born, there would be no path back for the two of us.

"He's not just a dream, he's a life! Have you thought about what happens the day he finds out where he really came from?"

Camile went quiet. Clearly, she hadn't thought that far ahead either.

There was still time to turn back from the edge. I grabbed her arm, ready to take her to schedule the procedure.

Camile wrenched her hand free. "Sean! I never knew you could be so heartless. This is just a baby, and you can't even make room for him?"

"Even if I divorce you over it, you'd still have him?"

Camile hesitated, but in the end she told me without flinching. "Yes. I'm having him. No one can stop me."

"Fine. Have him, then."

Good advice was wasted on a fool set in her ways. I gave up.

Camile's stubbornness went beyond anything I could have imagined. In her eyes now, I wasn't her husband anymore. I was the villain trying to steal her child's life away.

Camile's expression softened. She thought I'd caved.

"If you'd thought like this from the start, we wouldn't have had to fight at all." She reached out to pull me close. I stepped back out of her reach.

Camile's eyes dropped, her gaze turning hollow.

"I have a meeting. Go to your checkup on your own."

She stood there, lost, not sure what to do with herself.

I contacted a lawyer right away to sort out the divorce. Some people you can't hold onto, and the kindest thing to do is cut it clean.

I hadn't expected the news to travel so fast. I'd only just finished meeting with the lawyer that morning, and by the time I got back, the entire McCallum family already knew I wanted a divorce.

Camile's father, Dave McCallum, reacted the worst of all. The McCallums were known for their family values, generations of harmonious marriages, never a single divorce in the family's history. The news that Camile and I were splitting up shook the whole family to its core.

"They should have had a child sooner..." Camile's older sister, Gloria McCallum, muttered snidely.

Marilyn quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

She leaned in to whisper something in Gloria's ear. Gloria shot me a glare, and as she walked past me, she spat at my feet and called me shameless.

Before Camile even arrived, Dave was already shouting at me. "Get on your knees!"

I might be their son-in-law, but I wasn't the type to just fall in line.

"Dad, say what you need to say. That kind of thing doesn't work on me."

"You cheated on my sister, and you still have the nerve to talk back?" Gloria said, standing up for her sister.

No wonder they'd been cursing me a moment ago. They thought I was the one at fault.

Before I could even open my mouth to explain, Marilyn stepped in to smooth things over. "It's fine that Sean made a mistake. What matters is that he owns up to it. You two already have a baby on the way now. As parents, you both need to set an example."

"The baby isn't," I started, before Camile cut me off.

"Dad! Mom! Why did you call Sean out here?" It looked like she still had no idea her own family had already branded me a cheater.

Gloria pulled Camile aside. "You don't even know yet. He cheated on you."

Camile stared at me, disbelieving, her voice trembling. "Is that true?"

"I didn't cheat. I just want a divorce."

I stated the facts calmly, but Camile took it even harder than before, nearly fainting on the spot.

Marilyn rushed to help her into a room to rest.

Gloria, without a shred of evidence, threw the accusation at me anyway. "If you didn't cheat, why else would you divorce my sister? Unless you're saying she's the one who cheated?"