Chapter 16 - “I’m Pregnant”
Ethan looked at the blue box but did not reach for it.
“What is that?”
Claire placed it on the table and opened the lid.
The ultrasound photograph was still creased from the night she had dropped it. A faint brown mark ran across one corner where rain had touched it in the driveway.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
Ethan stared at her.
Claire had imagined this moment in the car, in the clinic, and during sleepless nights when she had believed telling him might restore something between them. In none of those versions had his first response been silence so empty it felt like rejection.
“How far?” he asked.
“Twelve weeks.”
His eyes moved to her stomach. “You knew before the night at the house.”
“I found out that afternoon.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I tried.”
“You should have told me immediately.”
Claire laughed once. “You were kissing Vanessa.”
Ethan picked up the photograph. His fingers touched the blurred image without tenderness.
“The baby is mine?”
Claire flinched.
“That’s the first thing you ask?”
“I need to know.”
“You know.”
“We haven’t been trying.”
“That doesn’t make the baby impossible.”
Ethan began to pace. “Does anyone else know?”
Claire’s face went still.
“Noah knows. Lucas knows.”
“Lucas?”
“He is my lawyer.”
“You told him before me.”
“I told him after you made my legal security a matter of survival.”
Ethan turned toward the window. The reflection showed a man who had lost control of a situation he believed belonged to him.
“The trust,” he said.
Claire did not answer.
“You know about the trust.”
“I know enough.”
“This changes things.”
“For you?”
“For everyone.”
He reached for his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“My mother.”
“Of course.”
He called Margaret before Claire could stop him.
“She’s pregnant,” he said when Margaret answered.
Claire heard Margaret’s sharp intake of breath through the speaker.
“Are you certain?”
“Twelve weeks.”
“Does she have proof?”
Claire stared at the phone.
“Proof?” Ethan repeated.
“You need to think carefully,” Margaret said. “The timing is—”
Claire reached across the table and ended the call.
Ethan’s face turned red. “How dare you?”
“She questioned whether your child was real.”
“She asked a reasonable question.”
“No. She asked a cruel one.”
“You are trying to manipulate me with a pregnancy.”
Claire felt the last thread of hope break.
“You think I wanted this to happen so I could control you?”
“I think you know the baby changes the financial situation.”
“You are unbelievable.”
“The trust was created before you ever knew me.”
“And you married me while knowing what it meant.”
“I married you because I loved you.”
“Did you?”
The question silenced him.
Claire picked up the ultrasound photograph.
“I am not going to let you or your mother turn my child into a bargaining chip.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’ve made plenty. Staying with you was the largest one.”
She walked toward the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“To pack a bag.”
“You can’t leave this house.”
Claire turned. “Watch me.”
Ethan stood in the middle of the room, clutching the phone Margaret had answered.
“If you leave, you lose your protection.”
“No. If I stay, I lose myself.”
Claire went upstairs. Behind her, Ethan called Margaret again.
May you like
This time, his voice carried through the floorboards.
“We need the agreement tonight,” he said. “Before she files anything.”
