After five years of disappointment, Karol was finally pregnant – but she kept it a secret until she was sure. At the ultrasound, joy turned to ice when Carole saw her husband, Ronald, gently embracing the pregnant woman. Who is she? Karol decides to follow them…and reveals a truth she never expected.
My hands shook as I placed the pregnancy test on the bathroom sink. The past five years had been an endless cycle of disappointment, but this morning was different. I watched, almost out of breath, as two pink stripes appeared.
I wanted to tell Ronald immediately. He had been my rock through everything: the treatment, the tears, the midnight tantrums when my period came again.
But after so many failures, I needed reassurance. Another disappointment could have broken us both.
So I made an ultrasound appointment and told him I was having my teeth cleaned. The lie was bitter on my tongue, but I convinced myself it was worth it to give him real, concrete news.
At the hospital, the machine slid smoothly over my stomach.
‘There,’ the nurse said, pointing. ‘See that twitch?’
I squinted my eyes, and suddenly I saw it. A small, fast pulse. A heartbeat.
‘Oh my God,’ I exhaled.
Joy blossomed in my chest, pure and perfect. After five years of trying, I would finally be a mum!
I sprinted out of the office, my hand resting on my still flat stomach. Already I was planning how I would let Ronald know. Maybe I’d wrap the ultrasound photo as a gift or-.
That thought was shattered when I rounded the corner. In the corridor outside the antenatal clinic stood Ronald. My Ronald. But he wasn’t alone.
His arms were wrapped around a young, heavily pregnant woman. His hands rested protectively on her enlarged belly, and the look on his face… I knew that look. It was the gentle look he gave me when I was upset or scared.
This wasn’t just a normal hug between acquaintances. It was intimate. Familiar.
I lurked behind the drink machine so they wouldn’t see me, my pulse pounding so hard I could barely hear anything else. Who is she? Why is Ronald here and not in the office like he said?
The woman said something, and Ronald laughed. It was his real laugh, not the polite one he uses with clients. My stomach clenched.
They walked towards the exit. I needed to find out what was going on, so I did something I never would have thought to do.
I pulled out my phone and ordered an Uber, following them down the corridor. I was determined to find out where they were going.
In the car park, Ronald so gently helped a woman into her car that I felt sick to my stomach. When my Uber pulled up, I sat in the back seat, my hands shaking as I held my bag.
‘Follow this blue sedan,’ I told the driver, feeling like I was in a weird film. ‘Please.’
The driver nodded, and off we went.
My stomach churned as Ronald pulled up to a small unfamiliar house. The morning light illuminated the woman’s profile as she smiled at him, and my nausea intensified.
‘Stop here,’ I said to the driver, my fingers trembling as I reached for my bag. ‘I’ll walk from here.’
I got out and watched Ronald help the woman out of the car, his hand remaining on her lower back as they walked to the door. The gesture was so intimate, so familiar, it made me ache.
Taking a deep breath, which did nothing to calm my racing heart, I walked towards the door. As I approached, I knocked before I could change my mind.
The door swung open and there stood Ronald, his face losing colour faster than I’d ever seen it.
‘Karol?’ – His voice shook. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I think I’m the one who needs to ask that question,’ I said, walking past him into the house.
A pregnant woman stood in the living room, one arm protectively around her belly. She was young, probably in her early twenties, with clear skin and bright eyes that widened when she saw me.
She was beautiful in that natural style that made my forties feel like an entire era.
‘I just had an ultrasound,’ I announced, my voice shaking. ‘You know, because I’m pregnant too.’
Ronald’s mouth opened and closed like a fish pulled out of water. The young woman, on the other hand, did the completely unexpected.
She laughed. ‘You’re Karol!?’
Before I could realise what was happening, she crossed the room and put her arms around me. I stood there like a board, my mind unable to comprehend such a reaction.
‘What are you even doing?’ – I demanded, stepping back. The room suddenly seemed too small, too warm.
Ronald ran his hand over his face, the gesture so familiar it hurt. “Carol, please. Let me explain.”
‘Are you pregnant?’ – The young woman asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She bounced a little on her feet, resembling an impatient puppy.
I nodded, still completely confused by this strange situation.
‘This is amazing!’ – she exclaimed. ‘It means our kids will grow up together as real siblings!’
My breath caught. ‘What?’
‘Not siblings, but still family.’ Ronald’s voice was full of emotion when he spoke. ‘She’s my daughter, Karol.’
I looked at the young woman again, now really looking at her. The same warm brown eyes that Ronald had. The same small dimples on her left cheek when she smiled. How had I not noticed that before?
‘My name is Anna,’ she said softly, extending her hand. Her fingers were warm and slightly calloused.
‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know until recently,’ Ronald explained, stepping closer.
His shoulders were tense, but there was a mixed feeling of relief and fear in his eyes. “Anna’s mother and I dated before I met you. She never told me she was pregnant.”
Anna’s voice was gentle as she added: “Mum died a few months ago. Breast cancer.” She swallowed hard. “I found Dad’s name on my birth certificate when I was going through her things. I didn’t have anyone else’s.”
‘So all those nights you said you were working late…’ – I began, remembering the missed dinners and distracted phone calls.
‘I was trying to bond with my daughter,’ Ronald finished. “And now I’m going to be a grandfather. And a father.” He laughed, but it sounded more like a sob.
I sat down in the nearest chair, my legs suddenly weak. The pillow exhaled softly beneath me, and I abstractly noticed that the fabric was covered in paint stains. ‘I thought…I was so sure…’
‘What’s he cheating on?’ – Anna asked, sitting down next to me. Her presence was oddly comforting. “God, no. He talks about you all the time. Karol this, Karol that. It’s actually quite annoying, considering I kept nagging him to meet you.”
A laugh burst from my chest, unexpectedly to myself. It was quiet at first, but then it escalated until tears ran down my cheeks.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,’ Ronald said later, as we sat at Anna’s kitchen table drinking chamomile tea. She insisted it was better for our children than coffee. “I was trying to figure out how to tell you both all this. I wanted to do it right.”
‘Following you on Uber probably wasn’t the right way to do it either,’ I admitted, warming my hands against my mug.
‘Are you kidding?’ – Anna smiled. “This is the best story ever! Wait till I tell my baby how his grandmother thought his grandfather was cheating, but she actually just found out she was going to be a grandmother too.”
‘Grandma?’ – I repeated, and the word seemed foreign on my tongue. ‘I haven’t even thought about it yet.’ The thought simultaneously made me feel old and surprisingly excited.
‘You’ll have to get used to it,’ Ronald said, reaching across the table.
His wedding ring caught the light from Anna’s kitchen window. “In two months you’ll be a stepmother and grandmother. And in seven months you’ll be a mum.”
I squeezed his hand, thinking about how differently this day could have ended. Instead of uncovering the cheating, I’d found a family. Instead of losing a husband, I gained a stepdaughter.
The fear and anger of that day’s morning seemed like a distant dream now, replaced by something warm and unexpected.
‘So,’ Anna said, interrupting my thoughts, “do you want to go baby shopping together? We should buy at least one set of matching bodysuits for the babies! I found an amazing little shop in the centre, they have such cute things.”
And just like that, I realised that families really do find their way. Sometimes it takes one wrong assumption and a huge amount of courage.
