Chapter 4 - Twenty Million Reasons He Suddenly Wanted to Explain
Jason arrived at 2:17 p.m.
I remember the exact time because Grace had just finished feeding and fallen asleep against my chest.
Sunlight filled the room.
Rosa had gone home to shower.
Rebecca had stepped downstairs.
For the first time all day, everything was quiet.
Then someone knocked.
“Come in.”
The door opened.
Jason entered.
He wore the navy jacket I had bought him for our fifth anniversary.
For one stupid second, I noticed that before anything else.
Then I saw the woman.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Beautiful in the deliberate, polished way of someone who had prepared for an entrance.
Her cream-colored dress probably cost more than most people’s monthly rent.
But what held my attention was her left hand.
A diamond ring glittered beneath the hospital lights.
Not an engagement ring.
A wedding-style band.
New.
My body went cold.
Jason stopped near the end of the bed.
His eyes moved to Grace.
No smile.
No tears.
No instinctive step toward his daughter.
Nothing.
“Is that her?”
That was the first thing my husband said when he saw our child.
Is that her?
I stared at him.
“Yes.”
He nodded awkwardly.
The woman beside him offered a small smile.
“Congratulations.”
I looked at her ring again.
“Who are you?”
Jason answered.
“This is Vanessa Reed.”
Vanessa extended her hand, then apparently realized how absurd the gesture was and lowered it.
“I’m sorry we’re meeting like this.”
“Are you?”
Jason exhaled impatiently.
“Emily, don’t make this ugly.”
I almost laughed.
My husband had thrown me out during labor, disappeared while our daughter was born, and walked into my hospital room with another woman wearing a wedding ring.
But apparently I possessed the power to make things ugly.
“What exactly did you come here to say?”
Jason glanced at Vanessa.
Their eyes met with familiarity.
That hurt more than I expected.
“This marriage hasn’t worked for a long time.”
“You mean since yesterday?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. Explain it.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“We’ve both been unhappy.”
“I wasn’t.”
He looked surprised.
That almost broke my heart.
“I thought we were struggling,” I continued. “I didn’t know you had already left.”
Vanessa shifted uncomfortably.
“Maybe I should wait outside.”
“No,” I said.
Jason looked at me.
“Emily.”
“She came into my hospital room. She can stay.”
Vanessa remained.
Grace stirred.
I instinctively adjusted the blanket around her.
Jason watched the movement without stepping closer.
“How long?” I asked.
He knew immediately.
“Emily—”
“How long have you been sleeping with her?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Jason looked toward the window.
“Six months.”
My daughter was less than an hour old when I discovered my husband had been unfaithful for nearly my entire pregnancy.
I absorbed the number.
Six.
Six months of missed appointments.
Six months of midnight messages.
Six months of me believing he was stressed.
“Did you know I was pregnant?” I asked Vanessa.
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Did you know we were married?”
“Yes.”
Jason stepped forward.
“Don’t interrogate her.”
I looked at him.
“I asked two questions.”
“You’re trying to humiliate her.”
That sentence did something remarkable.
It erased the final piece of guilt I had been carrying.
Jason was worried about Vanessa being humiliated.
In the hospital room of the wife he had abandoned during labor.
I nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
He frowned.
“For what?”
“For making this easier.”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t come here to fight.”
“Why did you come?”
“To tell you I want a divorce.”
Grace made a soft sound.
My attention immediately shifted to her.
I kissed the top of her head.
Then I looked back at Jason.
“Fine.”
He blinked.
“What?”
“You want a divorce. Fine.”
He clearly had expected something else.
Crying.
Begging.
Negotiating.
“How can you say that so casually?”
I stared at him.
“You told your laboring wife she was dead weight and threw her out. Then you missed your daughter’s birth because you were with your girlfriend. Now you’re standing beside her telling me you want a divorce.”
I paused.
“What exactly are you hoping I fight to preserve?”
Vanessa looked down.
Jason’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not a monster.”
“I didn’t call you one.”
“You’re acting like I abandoned you on the street.”
“You did.”
“Mrs. Alvarez lives next door.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“So that was your plan?”
“What?”
“If something happened, the seventy-one-year-old widow next door would handle your wife’s labor?”
“I knew you’d figure something out.”
That sentence hurt almost as much as dead weight.
Because it summarized our entire marriage.
Emily will figure something out.
Emily always does.
“Did you even wonder whether Grace was safe?”
Jason glanced toward the baby.
“Obviously she’s fine.”
My voice became very quiet.
“We almost had an emergency delivery at three this morning.”
His face changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
“What?”
“Her heart rate dropped.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Because you didn’t call.”
Silence.
For the first time, Jason appeared ashamed.
I wished that shame could repair what he had done.
It couldn’t.
Vanessa touched his arm.
Jason seemed to remember why they had come.
“There are practical things we need to discuss.”
“Like?”
“The house.”
I almost smiled.
Of course.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The practical part.”
Jason frowned.
“We’re both on the mortgage.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve paid significantly more into the house over the past year.”
“That’s incorrect.”
“You barely contribute.”
I stared at him.
Jason had absolutely no understanding of my finances.
My regular Army pay went into one account.
Investments and savings went elsewhere.
I had deliberately kept our household contributions equal because I believed equality was healthy.
Apparently he had mistaken privacy for poverty.
“You think I barely contribute?”
“I know what you make.”
“No, Jason. You know what you assume I make.”
His eyebrows drew together.
Vanessa watched me more carefully.
Before he could respond, someone knocked.
A nurse entered.
“Colonel Carter, is this still a good time?”
Jason turned toward her.
The word hung in the air.
Colonel.
He looked at me.
The nurse seemed to realize something strange was happening.
“Should I come back?”
“No,” I said. “What is it?”
“Lieutenant General Brooks has arrived.”
Jason gave a short laugh.
“Who?”
The nurse looked at him as if he had asked who the President was.
“Lieutenant General Nathaniel Brooks.”
Vanessa straightened.
Unlike Jason, she apparently understood the significance.
“A three-star general?”
The nurse nodded.
“He’s on his way upstairs.”
Jason looked at me again.
“Why is a three-star general coming to see you?”
I could have answered.
Instead, the sound of movement came from the hallway.
Two officers appeared outside.
Then Rebecca.
Behind them walked Lieutenant General Nathaniel Brooks.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Dress uniform immaculate.
The nurse immediately straightened.
The physician near the nurses’ station did the same.
Jason stepped aside instinctively.
General Brooks entered.
His eyes found me.
Then Grace.
His expression softened.
“Motherhood suits you.”
I smiled.
“Good afternoon, sir.”
He moved to the foot of the bed.
Then, to my surprise, he came to full attention.
His right hand rose in a flawless salute.
The room became completely silent.
“Colonel Emily Carter.”
Jason stopped breathing.
I returned the salute as best I could while holding my daughter.
Brooks lowered his hand.
“Headquarters directed me to personally deliver your promotion orders and classified assignment authorization.”
He removed a sealed military envelope from the leather folder under his arm.
“You earned this.”
I accepted it.
“Thank you, sir.”
Behind him, Vanessa had gone pale.
Jason looked from the general to me.
“Colonel?”
His voice was barely audible.
General Brooks turned.
He assessed Jason quickly.
Not rudely.
The way senior commanders evaluate a room.
Vanessa stepped forward.
Her expression had transformed.
Respectful.
Almost nervous.
“Sir.”
Brooks looked at her.
She introduced herself.
“I’m Lieutenant Colonel Vanessa Reed.”
My eyes snapped toward her.
Jason stiffened.
Vanessa continued.
“I’m assigned to Colonel Carter’s command.”
Silence.
This time even I was stunned.
Vanessa.
The woman sleeping with my husband.
Worked under my command.
Not directly enough that I had recognized her name from daily operations, but close enough that the implications were immediate.
General Brooks’s expression hardened.
Rebecca’s did too.
Vanessa realized what she had just admitted.
Jason stumbled backward.
“You work for Emily?”
Vanessa whispered, “I didn’t know she was your wife.”
I stared at her.
“You knew my name.”
“I knew Emily.”
Her voice shook.
“Jason always called you Emily. He told me your last name professionally was different.”
I turned toward Jason.
His face told me enough.
Another lie.
A bigger one.
I looked at Vanessa’s ring.
“Why are you wearing that?”
She swallowed.
“Jason gave it to me this morning.”
“This morning?”
“He told me your marriage was already legally over.”
I almost admired the audacity.
The man had apparently ended our marriage unilaterally sometime between throwing me out and breakfast.
General Brooks spoke.
“Colonel Carter, I believe we should give you privacy.”
“No, sir.”
I looked directly at Jason.
“I think we’re finally getting somewhere.”
His face was drained of color.
For months he had believed his wife was insignificant.
Now a three-star general stood beside my hospital bed.
His mistress had just discovered she worked inside my command.
And Jason had begun to realize something much worse than losing me.
He had built his new life on lies told to both women.
But he still didn’t know about the twenty million dollars.
May you like
And at that moment, I decided he was going to hear about it from someone other than me.
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