Secrets and Second Chances

MARIA'S POV

I raced up the stairs, one hand pressed protectively against my stomach.

For the first time in three years, I felt like I had something to hope for.

I was pregnant.

The words still felt unreal.

A smile spread across my face as I imagined Ethan's reaction. Maybe he would finally be happy. Maybe he would finally look at me the way I had always wanted him to.

Maybe this baby would change everything.

For three years, I had tried to make our marriage work. Ethan had never been openly affectionate, but there had been moments when I thought he cared about me. Small moments. A soft smile. A hand on my back. The occasional conversation that lasted longer than necessary.

I had held on to those moments.

But as our third year of marriage approached, even those disappeared.

Ethan became distant.

Cold.

And our three-year marriage agreement was almost over.

Still, I refused to believe that meant the end of us.

Not anymore.

I had our baby.

Maybe now Ethan would finally see me-not as the unwanted wife his father-in-law had pushed into his life, but as the mother of his child.

I reached our bedroom door, my cheeks warm with excitement.

Then I heard voices.

I stopped.

A strange uneasiness settled in my chest.

No.

I shook my head.

This was supposed to be a happy day.

I pushed the door open.

My world shattered.

Ethan was sitting on the couch.

A woman was sitting across his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck.

Her lips were pressed against his.

I couldn't breathe.

"Ethan?"

He pulled away slowly.

His gray eyes met mine.

There was no guilt in them.

Only irritation.

"Maria," he said coldly. "You're back early."

I stared at the woman.

She was beautiful. Perfectly dressed, perfectly composed, as though she belonged in this house.

As though she belonged on my husband's lap.

"Who is she?"

Ethan didn't answer immediately.

The woman did.

"Susan."

She smiled at me.

It wasn't a friendly smile.

Ethan's arm remained around her waist.

"My college sweetheart," he added.

My stomach twisted.

"College sweetheart?"

Susan leaned closer to him.

"We're getting married soon."

The room spun.

"Married?"

I looked at Ethan.

"But we're married."

He sighed as if I were exhausting him.

"You knew what this marriage was, Maria."

My fingers tightened around my bag.

"You told me we would give it a chance."

"I never promised forever."

His words crushed the little hope I had carried upstairs.

"You said we would try."

"We did."

His expression hardened.

"And it didn't work."

A tear slipped down my cheek.

I quickly wiped it away.

I didn't want Susan to see me cry.

Not yet.

"Ethan..." My voice trembled. "I came here because I have something to tell you."

He glanced at me impatiently.

"What?"

I placed a trembling hand over my stomach.

"I'm pregnant."

Silence.

For one beautiful second, I imagined his face changing.

I imagined surprise.

Happiness.

Maybe even love.

Instead, his expression became colder.

"You're lying."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

"You think a pregnancy will make me stay?"

"No!" I shook my head desperately. "I'm not lying. This baby is yours."

Susan's fingers tightened around Ethan's shoulder.

"Ethan, don't listen to her. She's desperate."

I looked at her.

"This has nothing to do with you."

Her smile disappeared for a moment.

Then she looked at Ethan.

"She's only saying this because she knows you're leaving."

I turned back to him.

"Tell her she's wrong."

Ethan said nothing.

That silence hurt more than anything.

I waited for him to deny Susan's words.

He didn't.

Instead, he reached for an envelope beside him and pulled out several papers.

Then he threw them onto the table.

"Your divorce papers."

My eyes widened.

"You already prepared them?"

"Yes."

"You knew?"

He stood.

"The three years are over, Maria. It's time for both of us to move on."

I stared at the papers.

My hands shook.

I had spent three years trying to build a marriage that Ethan had apparently been counting down to escape.

And now, on the day I had come to tell him we were going to have a child, he was handing me divorce papers.

"How can you do this?"

His jaw tightened.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

I picked up the papers.

My vision blurred.

"I won't sign these."

His eyes narrowed.

"Maria."

"I said I won't."

For the first time, I saw anger flash across his face.

But I was already turning toward the door.

I couldn't stay there another second.

My hand rested on the doorknob.

I looked back at the man I had loved for three years.

"Was none of it real?"

For the briefest moment, something flickered across his face.

Then it disappeared.

"It was never supposed to last."

My heart cracked all over again.

I swallowed the sob rising in my throat.

"I hope one day you realize what you threw away."

Then I walked out.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

My marriage was ending.

My heart was breaking.

But beneath all the pain was one thing Ethan could never take away from me.

My baby.

I placed a trembling hand over my stomach.

"I've got you," I whispered.

My tears fell freely now, but I kept walking.

I didn't know where I would go.

I didn't know how I would survive.

I only knew that I couldn't stay in that house and watch the man I loved choose another woman over me.

Behind me, I heard Ethan's cold voice.

"Maria."

I didn't stop.

Not this time.

I walked away from my husband with tears streaming down my face, unaware that the day I thought my life had ended was actually the beginning of everything.