Expensive dinners.
Weekend trips.
Luxury hotel rooms.
A new designer handbag.
She looked happier than she’d ever looked around me.
Then she posted a photograph of herself standing beside Diego.
The caption read:
“Sometimes the truth hurts before freedom feels good.”
I stared at the screen.
I didn’t respond.
I simply closed the application.
But that wasn’t the last thing Paula would post.
A few days later, she uploaded a photograph of a jewelry box.
Inside was a diamond ring.
Her caption said:
“Some promises are finally being kept.”
I knew immediately what she was implying.
Diego hadn’t just left me.
He had apparently been planning a future with her.
And perhaps the pregnancy was simply the excuse he needed.
The Ultrasound
That was why I went to the clinic alone.
I didn’t want Diego there.
I didn’t want his accusations.
I didn’t want another argument.
I just wanted to see my baby.
Instead, I discovered I was carrying two.
Dr. Salinas repeated the measurements.
Then she asked me for the date of my last menstrual period.
I gave it to her.
She entered it into the system.
The estimated date aligned with the ultrasound.
Then she looked at me carefully.
“Laura, did your husband really have a vasectomy two months ago?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know whether he completed the follow-up semen analysis?”
“No.”
The doctor nodded.
“That may be important.”
Then the door opened.
Diego walked in.
Paula was behind him.
I didn’t know who had told them about my appointment.
Diego looked at the screen.
“Is that the baby?”
Dr. Salinas answered.
“There are actually two.”
Paula’s face changed.
Two babies.
Then the doctor explained the gestational age.
Fourteen weeks.
Diego took a step backward.
“But the vasectomy…”
