Misplaced Marriage of Past Era A Love and Hate Tragedy

“Evelyn, you... you’re pregnant?”

I nodded, my hand resting on my belly. “Yes, I’m three months along.”

In an instant, Margaret’s face turned pale. She quickly pulled Richard aside.

While the latter was busy comforting her, I took the divorce agreement from my bag and turned to the last page, signaling for him to sign in the blank space.

Richard tried to take a look, but Margaret clung to him and in the end, he signed without even glancing at it.

With the document in hand, I left quickly, ignoring the look in Richard's eyes that seemed to beg for an explanation.

A night passed and Richard didn’t come home. I didn’t mind at all; in fact, I exchanged everything he had given me for fifty bucks on the black market

As I stepped outside, I saw him and Margaret walking closely together down the street.

Upon noticing me, she immediately wrapped her arm around Richard’s, saying, “Hello, Evelyn! I was scared last night, so I asked Rick to stay with me. Don’t think too much of it.”

Richard quickly added, “That’s right, Eve. Don’t misunderstand.”

I nodded blankly, about to walk away when a sharp pain shot through my belly. I could clearly feel the baby kicking.

Richard, seeing me touch my stomach, looked at me with a tender gaze.

“Eve, once we settle Maggie in, we’ll be a happy family of three,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you and the baby.”

In that fleeting moment, I felt disoriented came crashing. It was as if I had been transported back to the time before the lies had come to light.

Then, out of nowhere, a car came barreling down the street, completely out of control, heading straight for us.

I heard Richard's frantic shout, “Maggie, watch out!”

Bang!

As everything spun wildly around me, I was struck to the ground by the force of the car, witnessing Richard protect Margaret in his embrace.

A sharp pain surged through me and darkness threatened to close in at the edges of my vision. My stomach twisted in agony.

Looking down, I saw blood seeping between my legs and panic gripped me.

I called out for help, but Richard remained frozen in place, wholly absorbed in comforting Margaret, who had only sustained a minor scrape.

A bitter smile crept onto my lips. So this was his version of “taking care of me and the baby.”

It felt so cheap, so insincere.

With the aid of concerned bystanders, I got rushed to the hospital.

The nurse quickly arranged for a doctor to examine me and before long, he regretfully told me, “I’m sorry, but we couldn’t save the baby.”

At that moment, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

When I opened my eyes again, I found Richard sitting by my bedside, his face filled with guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Eve. It’s my fault. I didn’t protect you and the baby. You have to understand, Maggie was right there, so I instinctively…”

“Don’t worry, we’re still young. We can have another child.”

I let out a bitter laugh. Richard, we would never have a future together.

For the next two days, Richard brought me meals regularly, spending the rest of his time with Margaret, who claimed she was shaken up by the accident.

But I didn’t care one bit.

On the day Richard left for the army, Margaret showed up before me with a smug look on her face.

“Evelyn, Rick is just like he used to be. He’ll do whatever I say!”

“I just mentioned that I didn’t want you getting pregnant and the very next day you had a miscarriage. What a coincidence, don’t you think?”

I suddenly looked up, trembling as I asked, “What did you just say?”

“Or did you really think it was just a coincidence?"

"A runaway car just happened to be at that intersection and it crashed right into you? Even as you lay there in a pool of blood, Rick didn’t even glance your way. His goal was to make sure you had a miscarriage!”