When I opened the bedroom door, I saw a man I had never met before.
He was sitting on the bed, looking confused and frightened.
For several seconds, I simply stared at him.
Then I turned toward Rose.
“Who is this?”
Rose was already crying.
“Mom, please… I can explain.”
The man tried to speak.Ma’am, I didn’t know that she…”
“Get out of my house,” I interrupted.
He didn’t argue.
He quickly gathered his things and left.
When the front door closed behind him, I turned toward my daughter.
I was so angry that my hands were shaking.
“Nathan works all day trying to build a future for you and those babies, and you bring another man into this house?”
Rose kept crying.
“It was a mistake. It only happened once. It didn’t mean anything.”
Her words only made me angrier.
“It didn’t mean anything?”
I pointed toward the nursery.
“We prepared this house for you. We bought two cribs. Nathan is working himself exhausted because he believes he is about to become the father of twins.”
Rose lowered her head.
Then she said the sentence that made my heart sink even further.
“Please don’t tell Nathan.”
I stared at her.
“So now you want me to lie to him too?”
She stepped toward me.
“Mom, I’ll fix everything. Please. I love him.”
“If you love him, why did you do this?”
She had no answer.
I walked into the living room and sat down.
A thousand thoughts were racing through my head.
I wasn’t thinking only about the betrayal anymore.
I looked at my daughter’s pregnant belly and, for the first time, asked myself a question that terrified me.
What if the twins weren’t Nathan’s?
The thought made me feel sick.
Nathan had been working extra hours.
Planning for two babies.
Talking about names.
Saving money.
Building furniture for the nursery.
And suddenly I didn’t even know whether those children were his.
A few minutes later, I walked back into the room.
Rose was still standing there.
“Pack your things.”
She stared at me as if she hadn’t understood.
“What?”
“You need to
leave.”
“Mom…”
“I can’t have you here right now. I need time to think about what happened and what I’m supposed to do.”
Rose began crying even harder.
Then she dropped to her knees in front of me.
