My husband’s mistress got pregnant before I did

Gale moved before anyone else could.

Bella had stepped toward him with one hand on her belly. He swept her aside with his forearm, the way you'd brush a curtain out of your face. She stumbled into the coat rack.

Then he crossed the porch in two strides and pulled Amy into his arms.

He held her hard. His face sank into her dark hair. His shoulders shook.

"You came back," he said into her neck. "God, Amy. You actually came back."

Amy laughed softly and patted his back, like a mother soothing a child who'd scraped his knee.

Bella stood frozen by the coat rack. Her mouth hung open. Her stork pillow lay on the tiles between us, face-down.

For once, we were looking at the same thing.

And I was the only one who'd seen it before.

---

Nine years ago, I'd found Gale on the floor of his apartment. Empty bottles all around him. Vomit in the sink.

"She married him," he'd slurred. "Some guy with a yacht. She said I'd never be anything."

"You'll be something," I'd told him, dragging him toward the shower. "I promise you will."

I'd loved him since college. Quietly. Stupidly. I never said a word while Amy had him.

I stayed when she left.

I sold my mother's pearls and her sapphire ring to pay for his first servers. We lived in a one-room rental where the ceiling leaked onto our mattress every time it rained. We slept with a bucket between us.

Then a competitor's man showed up at the office with a gun.

I remember Gale's face going white. I remember stepping in front of him without thinking. I remember the heat in my side, and then the ceiling.

When I woke up, he was gripping my hand so tightly my knuckles ached.

"I'll never let you down," he'd cried. "Never, Penny. Not for the rest of my life. I swear it."

A month later, a perfume school in Grasse sent me an acceptance letter. I'd applied two years earlier. It had been my dream since I was twelve.

"The company needs you right now," Gale had said. "Just give me one more year."

One more year became seven.

---

"Gale."

Amy eased back from him. She cupped his cheek and studied him from head to toe.

"Look at you," she said. "The big CEO. I always knew you had it in you."

"No, you didn't," I said.

Nobody looked at me.

Gale's thumb brushed a strand of hair off her face. "Why now? Where have you been?"

"I left him." Amy shrugged one silk shoulder. "Turns out yachts are boring. I kept thinking about you."

Gale swallowed. His voice dropped to almost nothing.

"Amy. Would you want to try again? Start over?"

Behind me, Bella made a sound like a kicked dog.

I waited for the pain to come. It didn't.

It was strange. I felt light. Empty. Like someone had finally switched off a machine that had been humming inside me for nine years.

I turned and walked to the stairs.

"Penny?" Gale said, almost absently. "Where are you going?"

"To pack."

"We still need to talk."

"No," I said. "You just did."

---

I made it halfway up before footsteps rushed behind me.

"Wait!"

Bella climbed two steps at a time, gripping the railing. Her mascara had smeared. The cheerful brunch voice was gone.

"Who is she?" she hissed. "Why does she look like me?"

"You look like her," I said. "Not the other way around."

Her face crumpled. "He said he loved me."

"He says that a lot."

I turned to keep going. Her fingers clamped around my wrist. Hard. Her nails dug in.

"You have to help me," she whispered. "You're his wife. Tell her to leave. If she takes him, I have nothing. My baby has nothing."

"Bella, let me go."

"Please!"

I pulled. She didn't let go.

Then her eyes flicked over my shoulder, down toward the foyer. Toward Gale.

Something changed in her face. It went smooth and calm. Almost peaceful.

She released my wrist and threw herself backward.

"*No! Penny, stop! My baby!*"

She hit the landing three steps down, rolled once, and curled around her belly. Her scream ripped through the house.

"She pushed me! Gale, she's trying to kill my baby!"

I stood there with my hand still out. Empty.

"I didn't—"

Gale was already on the stairs. His face had gone red and wild. I'd never seen him look at me like that. Not even in the stairwell.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he roared.

"Gale, she threw herself—"

He shoved me.

Both palms. Square in the chest.

My heel caught nothing. The railing slid past my fingers. The ceiling swung up, and then the stairs came at me, one edge after another, into my back, my hip, my head.

I landed at the bottom on the cold marble. The world tilted and rang.

Something warm spread between my legs.

I looked down. Red bloomed through my skirt and kept spreading. Fast. So fast.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."

I pressed both hands to my stomach. Hold on. Please, please hold on.

"Gale." My voice came out thin and wet. "Gale, help me. Save our baby. Please."

He was kneeling beside Bella on the landing, lifting her into his arms. She sobbed into his collar.

He looked down at me. His jaw was tight. His eyes were cold.

"Stop it, Penny," he said. "Stop pulling these stunts to fool me."

He carried her down past me. His shoe stepped right beside my hand.

Amy stood in the doorway, watching. She hadn't moved. She tilted her head, curious, like she was watching a play.

The edges of everything turned gray.

I tried to say his name again. Nothing came out.

---

"...Penny?"

His voice sounded far away. Underwater.

"Penny. Hey. Penny!"

Something had changed in it. The cold was gone. Something cracked and frightened had taken its place.

"Why is there so much blood?" he shouted. "Where's all this blood coming from? Someone call—*call an ambulance!*"

Hands on my face. Shaking me.

"Honey, open your eyes. Look at me. *Look at me!*"

I couldn't find my eyes. I couldn't find anything.

Sirens. A door banging. Boots on marble. A stranger's fingers pressed against my throat.

"What happened?"

"She fell—she fell down the stairs—" Gale's voice broke apart. "Is she okay? Tell me she's okay."

A pause. A rustle of fabric. Someone cutting my sleeve.

Then the doctor's voice, sharp and urgent, cutting through everything.

"She's pregnant! And right now, she's in serious danger!"

Somewhere above me, Gale made a sound I had never heard a man make.

And then there was nothing at all.