Chapter 7: Unraveling
The room felt like it was closing in on Emily, the air thick with the unsaid. James hadn’t said much since the results had come in. He was still standing by the window, his back to her, his eyes blank. The baby in her arms stirred slightly, but Emily barely noticed. She was lost in the chaos of her thoughts, trying to process the overwhelming reality of the moment.
She had known something was wrong, but she hadn’t expected this—this betrayal, this unraveling of the life they had built together. The words James had spoken echoed in her mind: I’m not the father. Each repetition of that sentence felt like a sharp, twisting knife in her chest. How had they come to this point? Was it always inevitable, the cracks beneath the surface, waiting to break apart? Was their whole marriage based on a lie?
The silence between them was unbearable. Emily wanted to scream, to demand answers, but she was frozen in place, unsure of what to even ask anymore. The trust had been shattered. How could they move forward after something like this?
Finally, James turned, his face drawn with exhaustion and something else—something like guilt, though it was hard to tell if it was real or just a facade. “Emily,” he started, but his voice faltered, unsure. “I never wanted this to happen. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Then why did you test her?” Emily’s voice was a whisper, but it felt louder than anything she’d ever said. She met his eyes, and the distance between them seemed to stretch even further.
“I didn’t trust myself,” James admitted, his words barely audible. “I didn’t think I could handle it if—if you hadn’t been honest with me.”
Emily blinked, the sting of his words cutting deeper than she had expected. “So, this is about me?” she asked, her voice shaking. “You didn’t trust me, James? After everything we’ve been through, you couldn’t believe in me? In us?”
He didn’t answer right away. He looked at her with a mixture of regret and confusion, but it was clear the weight of his own actions was too heavy for him to face. He looked away, as if even looking at her was too much.
She shook her head. “I can’t keep doing this. Not like this.”
The words felt like they were being ripped from her, the finality of them making her chest tighten. She looked down at the baby in her arms, the one thing she knew was real, and felt a wave of protectiveness surge through her. Whatever happened with James, she would not let their daughter suffer from this.
James didn’t say anything. He just stood there, as if waiting for her to say more, to give him something, but she had nothing left to give. She couldn’t fix this. Not now. Not with the way things were.
“I need space,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure if she meant space from James or from the life she had once known.
And with that, she turned away, her feet heavy as she walked toward the door. The silence of the house felt deafening. The life they had once shared seemed so far out of reach now.
To be continued…
Can Emily and James find a way to heal from this fracture? Will their family ever be the same? Find out in Chapter 8.