Ex-Husband's Regret

Her side of the story
Mom collapses in the chair after my admission. The heartbroken look in her eyes was undoing

me. The disappointed look she gave me nearly made me crumble on the spot.
Travis, who had been holding me, lets go as if I had burned him. He backs away from me slowly

until he’s a few feet away.

I know the rest had varying degrees of shock, but they didn’t matter to me right now. Not when

my family was looking at me like they didn’t know me. Like I was a stranger.

“Please tell me you’re playing a sick joke on me,” Mom pleads. “Tell me you didn’t have a child and

kept him hidden from us all these years.”

I want to lie to them just so the heartbroken and disappointed look in their eyes will disappear. I

know that I can no longer do that. There was no hiding from this. There was no more running from

the truth.

“I’m sorry. So sorry,” I cry as I stumble towards her. “I wanted to tell you, but I was so ashamed.”

I go to take her hand, but she flinches and pulls it away.

This is what I’ve been so afraid of. Ava was right. I was the perfect daughter. The one who never

made any mistakes.

The one that thought things through before, except for that one time. Now their image of me is

tarnished. Now they know that I am just like them. Human. The Ace card I had over Ava was gone. 2

I was in the same boat as Ava. I made mistakes that are now hunting me. Sleeping with Calvin

remains the greatest mistak

y life.

“H–How did this happen? When did it happen…did dad now?” Travis asks as he paces, frustration

clear in his steps.

“Dad didn’t know. No one except Calvin and Molly knew.” I look at the ground, unable to face the

look on my mom’s face.

“Start from the beginning and don’t leave a single thing out. I want to know why the hell you’ve

kept my grandson a secret from his family,” Mom growls, her eyes turning fierce.

I didn’t want to rehash the past, but at this point, I don’t think I had any choice. If I didn’t want

them to be even madder than they were right now, then I had to spill it.

1/5

+15 BONUS

“When Rowan married Ava, I was broken I tried not to let it show. Tried to make you, dad, and

Travis believe I was okay because you were all so worried about me. I felt like I was drowning,

world had exploded, and I’d been left with nothing. When I went back to

of you, but I fell into

the grass, feeling as small as I did back then when I learned that Rowan had

with Ava.

was fading away. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, and I didn’t attend classes. In fact, I rarely left

when I refused to get better, she threatened

you to know how I was struggling. I didn’t want

out how tough things were for

had so much bitterness and resentment

she ever found out how far I’d fallen, she would have been ecstatic. It was

later that I discovered she had been going through her

going well after that. Molly became my anchor. My grades were improving, and

or think about Rowan every second.”

met Calvin again. It turns out we went to the same Uni and he was

assignment partner.” 2

we weren’t friends.

of the obsession he had for me

out of my way and I stayed out of

wanted to stop, but now

well for some time. They weren’t perfect, but they

until the night m alled me to let me know that

his son at first

I try to breathe through the pain of the memories, but

so fucking hard.

and I was really angry. Angry at myself for turning

sleeping with Ava, angry at Ava for getting

and angry at the baby for being

a sharp intake of air. I don’t need to turn to know that it is from

around Noah because if everything had gone the way I wanted

2/5

*15 BONUS

I knew he always disliked Calvin for the way he crushed on me, so that night I approached Calvin and seduced him I knew word would probably get back to Rowan, and that would have hurt him. That’s why I slept with Calvin that night, because I counted on Rowan’s friend telling him. He would have been so hurt, I would have gotten my revenge, and maybe then it would no longer

it’s also how I lost my virginity. I was saving it for Rowan and in the end I

was a mistake and that he should forget about what happened between us. I snuck out of his room, and I

wrong. I hadn’t planned for what was to come

that is, until my period was late. A cheap test. and later, a doctor’s

heart, I believed that one day Rowan and I would get back together. I didn’t want an unwanted baby to hinder that. I didn’t want

to always be in my

emergency pill the morning after?” mom asks, making me blush

everything was new to me. To put it plainly, I was

time I’ve ever h–had s–sex so I didn’t really know

I assumed tha‘ n’t really enough to get me

to get one, but like I said,

anyone to know.”

to tell me that during all the

virgin?” Travis asks

we started dating, which was at seventeen,

vagina. When I’d told him

till I was ready.

3/5

not talk

+15 BONUS

still a virgin. Anyway,” 1 paused. “I

to get rid of

her

but nod my head. “Calvin threatened to tell you and dad if I went