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,

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

you, but I fell into

small as I did back then when

with Ava.

was fading away. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, and I didn’t attend classes.

when I

you to know how I was

tough things

much bitterness and resentment towards Ava back

how far I’d fallen, she would have been ecstatic. It was probably a

had been going through her own kind

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

every second.” I take a

that I met Calvin again. It turns out we

assignment partner.” 2

to him. After all, we weren’t friends. I tolerated him because

and when he didn’t show any remnants of the obsession

We co–existed. He stayed out of my way and I stayed out of

to stop, but now

going well for some

night m alled me to let me know that Ava had given birth to a

first sight. Everything

surface.” I try to breathe through

so fucking hard.

pain, and I was really angry. Angry at myself

Ava,

angry at

turn to know that it

around Noah because if everything had gone the way I wanted it to, then

2/5

*15 BONUS

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

I was saving it for Rowan and in the end I gave it to the guy who kept fighting for

even like just to get back at the man I loved. I told Calvin that it was a mistake and that he should forget about what happened between us. I snuck out of his room, and I thought that was

I hadn’t planned for what was to come next. What

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

Rowan and I would get back together. I didn’t want an unwanted baby to hinder that. I didn’t

mistake to always be in my

pill the morning after?” mom asks,

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

I didn’t really know that I

tha‘ n’t really enough to get me pregnant. Looking back, maybe if

have aused me to get one, but

anyone to know.”

the years you dated Rowan, you never

still a virgin?” Travis asks in

wasn’t. Before we started dating, which

that walked and had a vagina. When I’d told

was ready. My biggest regret was holding

3/5

we not talk about this? It was

+15 BONUS

a virgin. Anyway,”

to get

wanted an abortion?” Mom asks, her voice

nod my head. “Calvin threatened to tell you and dad