My Pregnancy Record Proved I Cheated? Then Why Did My Sister Panic? Chapter 02
The moment the door to the private room closed, the noise from the ballroom was shut out.
Nathan’s parents sat on the sofa by the window. Mom sat beside Dad at the far side of the round table. A wide stretch of empty space separated the two families.
Chloe came in last. Her eyes and the tip of her nose were still red as she sat beside Mom, staring down and twisting her fingers together.
Before anyone else could speak, she started.
“I went with Vivian to the local women’s hospital on the sixteenth of last month.”
Her voice was soft and steady. As if on cue, a single tear slipped down and landed on the back of her hand.
“The OB/GYN clinic was on the fourth floor. She wanted me to wait downstairs, but I refused.”
“Later, she went in to get her results, and I heard the doctor say she was four weeks pregnant.”
“When she came out, all the color had drained from her face. I asked whose baby it was, and she wouldn’t answer.”
“I kept asking all the way downstairs. That was when she finally told me the baby wasn’t Nathan’s.”
“She made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone. She said everything would be fine if she could just keep it hidden until the wedding.”
“I’ve had nightmares every night since. Today, at the wedding, I just couldn’t keep it in anymore.”
Mom’s hands were shaking. All the strength seemed to go out of her.
“Vivian, how could you do this?”
I stood up and had barely opened my mouth when the door swung open.
Rachel Lawson stood in the doorway, breathing hard, her phone clenched in one hand as though she had rushed all the way there.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to come in, but I think your parents have a right to know.”
She held up her phone for everyone to see.
The photo showed me in the first-floor hospital lobby, walking out beside a man in his early forties. He wore a dark jacket, one hand resting on my shoulder. The angle and lighting made the shot look intimate.
“I was there that day too.”
Rachel lowered her head, unable to meet my eyes.
“I saw Vivian walk out with this man.”
“He said something to her. I couldn’t hear what it was, but Vivian smiled.”
“Before she got into the car, he opened the door for her. They looked close.”
Mrs. Holloway snatched the phone from Rachel, stared at the photo, then tossed the phone onto the coffee table.
“Enough. I don’t care who that man is. This ends here.”
She stood and turned to Mom.
“Look at the kind of daughter you raised!”
“The wedding is off! I want every dollar our family gave yours for the wedding back within three days. Every cent.”
“Please—we were about to be family—”
“Not anymore.”
Mrs. Holloway cut Mom off with a raised hand.
“After what your older daughter did, your younger one has more decency than she does.”
Before she even finished, Dad rose from his chair.
He walked over and glared at me.
“All those years raising you, and for what?”
I didn’t dodge when the slap came.
My left ear rang, and heat exploded across my cheek and burned all the way down my neck.
Mom screamed, but she didn’t step in.
The room went silent.
Nathan sat on the sofa with his head down. He never once looked at me.
In that deathly silence, Chloe came over.
She held out a tissue in full view of everyone.
As she leaned in to dab at the corner of my mouth, she brought her lips close to my ear. Her voice was barely more than a breath.
“Vivian, you never should’ve come back.”
She stepped back and looked up at me, tears still clinging to her lashes.
This hadn’t been a spur-of-the-moment decision. She had been waiting for this day for a long time.
I didn’t wipe my mouth or look at her.
I took out my phone and called my attorney, Dana Whitaker.
“Ms. Whitaker, it’s me. I sent you a message a few minutes ago.”
“Start the request for the hospital’s record of that visit and the original chart. Now.”
“And contact the hotel’s security manager. I want every camera recording from the wedding preserved.”
Dana said she would get on it immediately.
Everyone in the room watched me the entire time.
Chloe said nothing. She went back to sit beside Mom and lowered her head again.
But when I looked up after I finished my calls, I caught the faint stiffness at the corner of her mouth before she could smooth it away.
Then she was the same sweet, quiet Chloe again, sitting there with red-rimmed eyes.