Fredric stood frozen holding both the letter and the report,as if the weight of it all had drained every ounce of strength from
him.
The words on that letter cut through his chest like blades.
[I don’t want to love you anymore.]}
He read it again and again,fingers turning white from gripping too hard.
I really said I didn’t love him anymore.
His eyes tumed red since he couldn’t believe it.
Then his gaze dropped back to the miscarriage report and his heart twisted violently.
[6 weeks pregnant. Threatened miscarriage.D&C completed.]
The date matched exactly with the day I called him over and over.
Nineteen missed calls.
And where was he that day?8
At Disneyland with Deana.
He remembered that she’d stuck a cartoon headband on him,giggling. His phone buzzed and buzzed in his pocket.He glanced at the screen,saw her name and hit silent.
“She’s always so emotional, he’d thought. “I’ll make it up to her tomorrow when I go public.”
But now Fredric clutched the report,throat tightening.
“Was it because I slapped her?Did she fall and “%
The thought chilled him to the bone.
That day at the office,enraged at her and Deana’s confrontation,he’d lashed out without thinking.
She hit the ground hard. Her eyes met him with a complicated and cold gaze and he’d still been angry. Now,all that anger had drained out of him leaving only suffocating regret.
He collapsed onto the couch head spinning.
Fredric always thought I would love him no matter what. He never imagined I’d say goodbye.B
“Why..?I promised I’d make it right. Tomorrow,I was going to announce everything…”
He pulled out his phone,scrolling to the call log.l
Nineteen missed calls were all from me.”
When he’d asked why I called so many times, I’d said, “It’s nothing.”
Fredric hadn’t noticed how tired my voice was.
Wait,he hadn’t even asked.”
Fredric covered his face,struggling to breathe through the crushing guilt.!!
He wasn’t heartless, just emotionally closed off.”
Growing up in a loveless household,he’d learned to hide everything,to guard his heart.
Marrying me had been a business deal. He didn’t want love tied up in contracts.}
He’d even resented it.
Back then,part of him still clung to his old crush,Deana Mcmillan.
But after five years of marriage,things had changed.
Without realizing it,he’d grown used to me.”
Used to my smile,my quiet care and the warm light I always left on for him.”
Late nights when I handed him warm milk without asking he never said thank you,but he always drank it all.
