My Sister Stole My Man and His Baby

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My sister's daughter was a handful, and yet she only ever wanted one person: my boyfriend.

Every time Sophia Harding came over, my niece, barely a year old, would cling to Drew Morton and refuse to let go.

And he never wavered. He'd soothe her for hours, changing diapers, feeding her, doing all of it without a second thought.

Everyone said I'd found myself a good man, that I'd never have to worry about raising kids someday.

But only I knew how wrong it felt.

Every time Drew and I got ready to go out on a date, my niece would wail and fuss until he couldn't leave.

The sunrise we'd planned to watch, gone. The amusement park, never happened. Even last week's concert, refunded because my niece wouldn't stop crying.

I'd told myself it was just coincidence. Until today, when I happened to see the messages on his phone.

"Don't celebrate my sister's birthday. I'm bringing Yoyo over later."

"Got it. Throwing a little tantrum again, are we? I've told you, you and our daughter are what matter most."

My hand shook around the phone, tears falling one after another onto the screen.

So it wasn't coincidence at all. It was deliberate. They'd even had a child behind my back, and I was the only one who didn't know.

……

I stared at the chat log for a long time.

Aside from those few messages, there was nothing else. Cleared out regularly, obviously.

The door swung open. It was Sophia, my niece in her arms.

Just as she opened it, Drew was stepping out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower. He hadn't even put a shirt on before he reached out and took the baby.

Maybe I'd just never let my mind go there. Before now, I'd never once thought there was anything strange about it.

Only now did I see it. The three of them looked like a family, and I was the outsider.

Right then, my niece hugged Drew and called out, "Daddy."

"Yoyo really does love me." Drew smiled and held her a little tighter.

That was when Sophia caught up and rushed to explain. "I've taught her so many times, but this kid just can't get it. All she's learned is 'Mommy' and 'Daddy.'"

"It's my fault for not being able to give her a whole family. Lucy Harding, please don't read into it."

I'd believed it before. I'd thought she was just too little, that she'd taken the man she saw most for her father.

But thinking about it now, if no one had taught her, why would the very first word she learned be "Daddy"?

Every time in the past, when Sophia asked Drew to look after the baby, it was this same script.

The child's so young, she has no father to care for her, and Drew's the only man in the house.

And I, aching for my sister raising a child all alone, believed it, again and again.

Just then, Drew spoke up. "If you know you couldn't give her a whole family, go find yourself a boyfriend. Stop getting in the way of me and Lucy all the time."

"With that body of yours, sick every other day, and you still came out in rain like this. Don't call me crying at midnight when your head starts pounding."

Sophia shot him a glare and snapped back, "If Yoyo didn't like you so much, you think I'd want to look at that face of yours?"

"You took my sister, fine, but now you can't even leave my daughter alone. Might as well just take everything."

I used to think Drew treated Sophia terribly, always the one smoothing things over when it got tense. But looking back now, there wasn't a single line of his that didn't carry concern for her.

They bickered on, not the slightest bit aware of me standing right there.

Several minutes passed before Drew seemed to remember it was my birthday. "Lucy, I can't get away over here again. Why don't we just do your birthday at home?"

He decided everything for me, just like that, without a thought for the fact that I'd booked the restaurant a month in advance, invited all my close friends, started doing my makeup the moment I woke up. And now, because he said we weren't going, we weren't going.

Before I could even answer, Drew turned to Sophia and said, with deliberate irritation, "This is all your fault. Now Lucy can't even have her birthday."

I gave a little laugh. "Then don't take the baby. Would a little while really make a difference?"

Drew paused. In the past, when something like this came up, I'd always pout at him, unhappy, then cave on my own. Not this.

He frowned. "Don't be like that. Your sister has it hard raising a child alone, you need to be understanding. I'll make up your birthday next time. Same thing, isn't it?"

Seeing this, Sophia's eyes brimmed with tears. "It's all my fault, I'm useless, I can't even manage Yoyo. You spend time with Lucy. I'll handle her myself."

And with that she reached to take Yoyo back from Drew's arms, but he held on and wouldn't let her, and they tugged back and forth so long the two of them nearly ended up in each other's arms.

I didn't want to watch this farce any longer. I turned and walked out of that whole miserable scene.