my stepsister even opened her mouth. It was either one of two things.
Then she spoke up, and the words were out there, in the open. There was no going back.
“I can’t do it,” Mila said, her voice firm as Monique gasped, and her hand flew up to her mouth. I exhaled slowly, controlling my relief that it was the lesser of two evils Mila had decided to reveal.
Instead of trying to comfort my distraught wife, Mila looked straight at me as she spoke up again. “I don’t mean to pry, and I don’t want to cause trouble, but you two aren’t even speaking. I don’t think it’s the right time to bring a child into the world if its parents are going to be at each other’s throats the entire time.”
“What would you know about marriage? You’re just a kid!” Monique spluttered between sobs. The anger was winning against the heartache, I could tell.
Tears were streaming down my wife’s face, and my heart broke for the woman I loved… or at least used to love.
“I don’t think I’m ready, either,” Mila finished in a whisper, her voice finally breaking a little. “I know I have disappointed you both, and I’m sorry… I will get out of your hair as soon as possible. I promise not to be a burden.”
“You…” Monique whispered, and Mila and I both looked at her expectantly. I’d had a feeling this might happen, but Monique seemed truly surprised. Did she really expect to get away with treating Mila like shit, like her very own baby incubator?
“You filthy, dirty, lying slut!” she yelled all of a sudden, getting up from her chair so fast she almost fell over.
Mila and I both rose as well, and we stared at Monique in shock. She had gone into full meltdown mode, her eyes bulging in fury, tears flowing freely down her face as she screeched at Mila like a banshee.
“You lied to us and cheated us, and you’re going to get sued, you self-entitled little brat!” my wife spat out, and Mila looked like she was about to break.
And because I was a fool, I stepped in front of her, shielding her from Monique, protecting her with my body, but it only served to enrage my wife more.
“And you!” she screamed. “You bastard! You fucking snake. You said she’d do it. You said it was a done deal. You goddamn liar. You almost had me thinking you were human, but now I see how cold-blooded you really are. You never even wanted a baby, did you?”
“Monique! Who are you right now? You know that’s not true. You’re upset and I get that, but you have no right to act like such a fucking bitch!” I took a sharp intake of breath, regretting the words as soon as they were out of my mouth, out in the open for everyone to hear.
Her eyes bulged, and she grabbed her purse from the kitchen table. She glared at us as she stomped towards the front door.
“You two may not be related by blood,” she spat out, “but you sure are alike. Two deceitful, lying snakes.”
She spun on her heels, leaving Mila and me in the ruins of our arrangement.
My stepsister was shaking behind me, but I still had an obligation, and as long as Monique wore that gold band on her ring finger, I had to fulfil my promise to her. In for the good and the bad, for better and for worse, right?
Without another thought, I left Mila behind, not daring to look over my shoulder. I knew it would break my determination to do the right thing –if I even spoke to her right then, I’d immediately want to comfort her. I was a married man, and even though Mila was family and possibly much more, Monique was my main concern - she had to be.
I rushed out the door after Monique and spotted her car already speeding off down the road. I got into my truck as fast as possible, and I ignored the muffled crying coming from inside the house, even though it was tearing my heart in half.
There would be a time I’d be able to make it up to her, but for now I had to follow Monique. I peered through blurry eyes as I drove, trying to locate my wife, but I’d lost her.
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