After the Bloom,No Looking Back

"Next time you're free, have Ferdinand bring you over. I'll make your favorite pecan-crusted salmon, dear."

I was Ferdinand's wife. Not her.

Yet here were my in-laws, right in front of me, playing matchmaker between my husband and another woman.

Nausea clawed up my throat. I walked into the bedroom and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the frame.

Before I fell asleep, the internet exploded.

#Golden Voice anchor Ferdinand Sanchez and Vera Summers leave together — rekindled romance?#

The photos showed two silhouettes behind a curtain, locked in a tight embrace.

Tears soaked my pillowcase.

I rested my hand on my stomach, tracing slow circles.

Baby, what is Mommy supposed to do?

Whatever love I'd had for Ferdinand was dead. The only thing keeping me awake was the child growing inside me.

But before I could think it through, they made the decision for me.

Early the next morning, a hammering on the bedroom door shook the walls.

"Jade Winfield, get out here!"

I pulled the door open. The only thing I saw was the prenatal exam report in Doris's hand.

"You're pregnant?"

Most grandmothers-to-be would have been overjoyed. Doris looked like she'd found a cockroach in her kitchen.

"This baby has to go."

Keith sat on the sofa, saying nothing. His silence was its own verdict.

"This is my child. You don't get to decide whether it lives or dies."

I loved children. Three years of marriage and nothing had happened, so I'd dragged Ferdinand to a fertility clinic. The doctor diagnosed him with oligospermia. For years I'd been quietly adjusting his diet, slipping supplements into his meals. And now, finally, I was pregnant.

Doris's expression didn't waver.

"You couldn't even get into a four-year college. With an IQ that low, what if the baby takes after you?"

"The Sanchez family has always been a family of scholars. We will not accept mediocre offspring."

"If anyone is going to carry a Sanchez heir, it should be someone like Vera. An elite. Not you."

Keith lifted his head and looked at me, his face blank.

"Jade, a child that nobody wants will never be happy, even if it's born."

"You of all people should know that."

My hand trembled. A wave of cold grief washed through me.

My father never loved my mother, but she insisted on having me, convinced a baby would save the marriage. It didn't. He walked out on us without looking back.

Growing up, my mother poured every drop of her resentment onto me. She blamed me for not being a boy. She blamed me for not being charming enough to win my father's affection.

When Ferdinand and I first got together, he'd held me close, his voice aching with tenderness.

"Jade, from now on, I'm the family who loves you most."

What I didn't know was that he'd taken every wound I'd ever shared with him and handed it to his parents like ammunition.

Now they were the ones ripping open the scars, one by one.

Their voices rose and fell around me, distant and distorted.

"I know the head of OB-GYN at a private hospital. She'll handle it personally. You'll recover in no time."

I wrapped both arms around my stomach and held on.

"This is my child and Ferdinand's child. You have no right to make this call. Unless Ferdinand tells me himself that he doesn't want it."

Doris let out a cold laugh and dialed Ferdinand's number.

The wait stretched on forever.

I thought of all those late nights, tangled in the sheets, Ferdinand's breath warm against my ear.

"Jade, let's have two kids someday. One with your last name, one with mine."

He must have meant it once. He must have believed in our future, at least for a moment.

I didn't know how long I sat there before the front door opened and Ferdinand walked in.

Vera was right behind him.

I looked at Ferdinand, perfectly still, waiting for the verdict.

"Ferdinand, I'm pregnant. Your parents want me to terminate. What do you think?"

Ferdinand froze. Something unreadable moved behind his eyes as he stared at me.