My Husband's Baby Wasn't Mine to Wait For

Annette was the one who came after me with all those questions.

I only told her the truth. I did nothing wrong.

Ronnie didn't come back until the next afternoon.

One hour left before my flight.

He looked awful, sinking down onto the couch.

“Rosalind, go apologize to Annie yourself. Just tell her it was a joke, that she shouldn't take it seriously.”

My hands stilled over the clothes I was folding.

“Why should I apologize? What did I do wrong?”

“Or shouldn't you be the one apologizing to me?”

Ronnie rubbed irritably at his hairline, then lifted his head.

“Because Annie once saved my life. Everything I'm doing is just to repay her.”

I zipped the suitcase shut and rose slowly to my feet.

“There are plenty of ways to repay someone. You chose the stupidest one.”

Even as I stood the suitcase upright, Ronnie noticed nothing wrong.

He said that a year ago, when we went to the coast together and he fell into the water, it was Annette who saved him.

Later Annette showed up at the gym, and he decided it was a rare kind of fate.

My grip on the suitcase tightened without meaning to.

A year ago, Ronnie did fall into the water. But the one who saved him wasn't Annette at all. It was me.

After I pulled him out of the sea, I went to flag down the ambulance at the roadside.

But when he opened his eyes, the person he saw was Annette, passing by.

I never explained. He never asked.

He simply took Annette for the woman who had saved his life.

None of it mattered anymore. My phone buzzed again, reminding me to board.

I told Ronnie the same way I always did.

“I booked an afternoon flight.”

He got up and took the suitcase from my hand, the way he always had.

“Getting away for a bit is good. I'll be home waiting for you.”

“I've cleared up the whole thing with Annie. Stop clinging to these petty little things.”

Ronnie talked the whole way there.

Right up until I had to board, he waved at me first.

“Come back soon.”

In my heart, I answered him.

This time, I wasn't coming back.

......

On his way back to the gym, Ronnie was stopped in the road by Annette.

“Rosalind isn't your sister, is she?”

“Ronnie, don't lie to me. Just tell me the truth, okay?”

Ronnie stood where he was, unmoved.

He truly didn't want to hurt the girl in front of him.

But by now, his silence had already said everything.

Annette suddenly stepped back, her voice heavy with loss.

“I'm sorry. I didn't know you were married. The baby, I'll go to the hospital and end it.”

“Rosalind must be hurting so much right now. Go tell her I won't take you away from her.”

Annette wept until it tore at her, and even after being lied to, she didn't scream or make a scene. She chose to step aside.

The more she did that, the more it wrenched at Ronnie.

He caught her wrist as she was about to leave.

“You saved me. I was supposed to repay you.”

Annette wiped her tears, forcing herself to remember, and finally said through her crying,

“The one who saved you that day wasn't me. I only happened to be passing by. The one who saved you was Rosalind!”

Ronnie stood there blankly, and his grip on Annette's hand slowly loosened.

He'd always felt a piece of his memory was missing, and only now did that day in the water come back to him.

After he'd been dragged ashore, there had been a brief moment when he was clear-headed.

He couldn't make out the face, but he remembered a ring on that person's wrist.

Very unusual.

It hit him all at once. That person had never been anyone else. It was Rosalind.

Because only she would wear a ring made from a soda tab on her hand.

Ronnie looked at the time on his phone.

Only ten minutes left before the plane took off.

Rosalind wasn't going on any trip. She was leaving him for good.

“Go after her, hurry!”

Annette couldn't help but urge him on.

Ronnie didn't hesitate a second longer. He hailed a cab and headed straight for the airport.