Stopped Belonging to Him

When I set a date with Terence Howe for the procedure, I didn't expect to run into Jason and Maddy at the hospital.

"I thought your checkup was tomorrow." Jason frowned slightly.

Maddy was practically melting into his arms.

"She's been following you. She got caught, so she's pretending it's a coincidence." She then turned to me. "Diana, can you stop being so paranoid? You shouldn't make men the center of your universe."

I didn't bother responding. I turned to head into the department, but Jason grabbed my wrist.

"Are you feeling sick? Is something wrong with the baby?"

This pregnancy hadn't come easily.

When he found out, Jason had been terrified we would lose it like before. He stayed in church long after the lights dimmed, lighting candles, bowing his head in quiet prayer, asking God to watch over us both.

I pulled my hand free. "It's just a routine check."

Terence was my father's trusted doctor. He had been taking care of me for years.

"Ms. Hart, because of your previous injuries and the miscarriage you had before, if you terminate this pregnancy, it may be very difficult for you to conceive again in the future."

I didn't hesitate. "I've made up my mind."

Keeping this child would mean reliving the past over and over again.

This time, I couldn't afford to be soft.

When I walked out of the hospital, Jason was leaning against his car. The ground around him was littered with cigarette butts.

When he saw me, he instinctively put out the cigarette.

"Come home with me. We're married. It doesn't have to be like this."

I looked at him. "We're married? Then what about you and Maddy? And all those other women? Are they your wives, too? Jason, bigamy is illegal."

A flicker of impatience crossed his face. "I told you, don't push me."

Maddy stepped out of the car then, draping herself over him.

"Are we going or not? The baby's hungry." Her eyes slid toward me as her tone shifted. "The doctor said our baby's perfectly healthy. I guess women like us, who fight our way through life, are just built differently. We're not like some delicate wives who can't even hold onto a pregnancy."

I raised my hand, but Jason caught my wrist midair. "Diana, that's enough. Maddy's not wrong."

Cold spread through me, inch by inch.

The calm I had been holding onto these past few days shattered. I turned back into that woman who used to grab his collar and lose control.

"Jason, she might not know how we lost our child, but you do, don't you?"

He just looked at me coldly as I unraveled in front of him. When I finally burned through all my anger, he calmly opened the back door of the car.

"If you're done, come home."

Ever since Maddy showed up, the front passenger seat had become hers. Every time I protested, Jason would coax me like I was a child.

"Maddy gets carsick. Be good. Don't make a fuss."

But he forgot that I would sometimes get carsick, too.

"I've got plans tonight. I'm not going back."

Jason paused, one hand still on the car door, then let out a low laugh. "Diana, this kind of playing hard to get doesn't suit you."

I smiled. "This time, I mean it. I don't want you anymore."

The man I was supposed to marry was back. I wasn't going to be Jason's delicate rose anymore.

-

After Diana left, Jason couldn't stop thinking about the way she smiled when she walked away, especially when she didn't reply to a single message for days.

The unease in his chest kept growing.

Then his phone rang, sharp and sudden, cutting through his thoughts.

"Check the news. Now."

He opened the video.

"Gunnerson Elite Ryan Morton to Marry the Harts' Heiress."

In all of Gunnerson, there was only one Hart heiress.

Diana.