The anger seemed to fade away, only a strange ache for the child remained. He was just an innocent little boy caught in the storm his parents had created.
The next morning I drove to the cemetery again, hoping to see her again. I didn’t know why… Maybe I needed proof. Or maybe I just wanted to get it over with.
But she wasn’t there.
After that, I headed towards her house. I remembered that she had said something about living in a flat above the local supermarket. There was only one such supermarket in town, so that narrowed it down.
I parked outside and stared at the cracked windows, the peeling paint, and my stomach churned. How could she raise a child here?
How could James let her live in these conditions? Didn’t he care about her more? The thought made me sick to my stomach. His infidelity was hard enough as it was, but this just made it worse.
Before I knew it, I was in the grocery shop, buying a full basket of groceries and a stuffed bear from one of the displays. Then I walked up the dingy stairs into the alley between the two buildings.
She opened the door, and her face reflected shock when she saw me.
‘I don’t need anything,’ I said quickly. ‘But I thought…you might need help. For him.’
Her eyes filled with tears, but she stepped aside, letting me inside. The baby was lying on a blanket on the floor, chewing on a teething pad. He looked up at me with James’s eyes.
As I set the groceries on the floor, something inside me weakened. Maybe James had betrayed me, yes. And maybe he was living a lie. But the baby wasn’t a lie.
This baby was real, and he was here.
And somehow, in a way I couldn’t yet explain, he was like a second chance.
‘I’m Rhiannon,’ I said quietly, my voice shaking. ‘What’s his name? And you?’
She hesitated before answering.
‘Elliot, and I’m Pearl,’ she said.
I smiled, tears coming to my eyes.
‘Hi, Elliot,’ I said.
He winked at me, and for the first time in two years, the weight of grief in my chest eased a little.
‘I don’t know what that means,’ I said carefully, looking between her and the baby. ‘But I don’t think either of us can handle it alone.’
Pearl’s lips parted, as if she wanted to say something, but the words stuck in her throat. Instead, she nodded.
Elliot growled, ignoring the storm that had brought us here. I reached for his little hand, and he grabbed my finger with surprising strength. I burst out laughing, unexpected and unrestrained.
In that moment, I realised that James’s betrayal wasn’t the whole story. His absence had brought us together, two women bound by loss, by love, by the messy and complicated legacy of a man we knew differently.
I didn’t know if forgiveness was possible.
I didn’t know if I wanted it.
But I did know this: I had found a reason to keep living.
If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you:
Carol, her husband Rob, and their son Jamie go out for business and treats on Saturdays. The day is shaping up to work out exactly as Carol had planned. Until they hit a fabric shop where Carol is looking for material for Jamie’s Halloween costume, but discovers secrets she never knew were at the heart of her family. Carol has to pick up threads of grief she never knew she had.