I had waited years for that too.
Marcus looked at the pregnancy test in his hand.
“Are you all right?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the most honest answer I had.
His head lifted immediately.
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Not yet.”
“Do you need—”
I saw the machinery start behind his eyes.
Doctors.
Cars.
Security.
Specialists.
Schedules.
I raised one hand.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
That may have been the first miracle of the night.
“I don’t need Marcus Vale managing a pregnancy,” I said.
“I need the father of this baby to understand why its mother was willing to get on a plane alone on Christmas Eve.”
His face went still.
Then he carefully placed the test on the entry table beside him.
Not because it mattered less.
Because he was finally listening to me instead of the problem.
“All right,” he said.
“Tell me.”
I laughed once, bitterly.
“I’ve been telling you.”
“No.” His voice lowered.
“You’ve been trying to tell me.
I haven’t been listening.
There’s a difference.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
Then years of swallowed sentences started coming out.
I told him about dinners growing cold while I watched the driveway.
About waking at two in the morning to an empty bed and hearing his car arrive when the sky was already turning gray.
About sitting alone at a restaurant on our anniversary until the staff stopped refilling my water and began looking at me with pity.
About attending his events on his arm, smiling for people who assumed I was cherished, then returning home and watching him disappear into his office without even asking whether I had enjoyed myself.
I told him how humiliating it was to be envied for a marriage that barely existed.
Marcus did not interrupt once.
By the end, my voice was shaking.
His face had gone pale.
“I thought giving you everything meant I was taking care of you,” he said finally.
I glanced around the mansion.
The marble floors.
The art.
The enormous Christmas tree.
The staircase built for entrances.
“You gave me everything except yourself.”
He lowered his head.
The front door opened behind me.
Cold air rushed inside.
My driver had arrived.
A guard stepped forward uncertainly.
“Mrs.
