•DARLA•

“You’re 6 weeks pregnant… Congratulations, you’re 6 weeks pregnant…” The words kept replaying over and over in my mind as the doctor signed my discharge papers, and Amelia came to pick me up. 

I kept asking myself how I even got pregnant when I was on birth control, and Elijah was even making sure that we didn’t have a child together yet. 

I wasn’t sure if I had any slip-ups, especially now that Elijah wasn’t hiding his unfaithfulness to me and was publicly displaying his affection for Abigail. 

I wasn’t even sure that he would want me to keep the baby if I told him the news. 

He made it clear several times to me that he didn’t want us to have a child. 

“I’m so sorry about yesterday, I didn’t want to tell you on the phone about what I saw and heard.” Amelia apologized as she pulled up outside the house. 

I looked at her and smiled. She was my best friend for 20 years now and I was happy that she always got my back. 

She and I had come a long way, and I trusted her more than anyone in the world and knew that she had my back in everything. 

“It’s okay, babe. I’m glad that you called me and I saw what I saw. I wouldn’t have believed it if someone else told me,” I answered. 

“Are you sure that you’re not angry at me? I mean, you wouldn’t have landed at the hospital if I didn’t call you and tell you to come down to Houston’s building.” 

“I’m sure, Amelia, stop stressing yourself. Besides, I wouldn’t have found out that I was pregnant if I hadn’t landed at that hospital yesterday,” I groaned. 

She gasped as her mouth fell wide open. “You’re pregnant?” 

I nodded with a nervous smile. I wasn’t really happy about it, but I knew someone who was going to be happy to hear that her son had finally knocked me down. 

“Oh, my goodness, Darla!” She wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so happy, I’m going to be a rich auntie!” 

I chuckled as I pulled away from her. “Okay, rich auntie. I have to go now.” 

“If you’re going to need anything, I mean, anything… Please call me, and I’ll be at your service,” she announced as I hopped out of the car and waved goodbye to her. 

When I got inside the house, I went straight to my bedroom and looked at the pregnancy report from the hospital. 

I still couldn’t believe that I was pregnant. 

*** 

I was dreading the moment I had to tell Elijah the pregnancy news when he got back home since things were very awkward between us. 

I placed the pregnancy report on top of the bed and thought that he would see the report himself and decide if he wanted to be a part of the child’s life or not. 

I wasn’t even going to question him about not coming to get me at the hospital or even bothering to pick up his cell phone to check up on me. 

I was coming out of the closet and wearing my PJ’s when the door creaked open and he came inside. 

I greeted him like I usually did when he got back home as I headed to bed, but he just looked at me with a stern facial expression, causing me to freeze on my steps. 

“Here,” he said as he gave me papers. 

I took them, confused and my heart racing at what was happening, and when I saw the bold letters of divorce on top of the paper, my stomach sank. 

“What’s this?” I asked, trying to keep myself together. 

“Those are divorce papers, and I need them signed tonight. Abigail’s pregnant with my baby, and I have to be there for both of them. This won’t work for me anymore, Darla.” 

It felt like a bomb was thrown at me, and I wasn’t even sure that I was going to survive it. 

Abigail was pregnant, and Elijah was claiming that he was the father and wanted to be there for them. What? 

“This,” I scoffed. “This is a joke, right? You’re just pranking me because there’s no way that you could divorce me after you pushed me, got me in the hospital, and then failed to check up on me the whole night. This has to be a joke, Elijah!” 

“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday, but I’ve made up my mind, Darla. This marriage hasn’t been working out for me for a long time now, and I think that it’s time we went our separate ways. I will compensate you and your family for such an inconvenience, and I’ll make sure that this never disturbs our cooperation.” 

I looked at him and couldn’t believe that he was being serious and was actually breaking up with me. 

“We don’t need your money, Elijah, and you know that. After rubbing off your relationship with Abigail on my face, this is what you serve me?” I scolded. “Two years of my life in this -” I searched for the word but couldn’t find it. 

“Two years, and this is what I get?” I scoffed. “I’ve been nothing but everything that your family wanted me to be to you. I didn’t deserve what you did to me with Abigail, and I certainly do not deserve this!” 

For two years, I stayed in the marriage with him because I thought that it was best for our families and that he would at least treat me with a little bit of respect even though he didn’t love me. 

But I loved him all the same. I stayed in the loveless marriage with hopes that things would get better, and now, he was handing me divorce papers. 

“I’m sorry, Darla. I hired a chauffeur who will take you anywhere you want to go tomorrow, and my lawyer will be in contact with you about the divorce process in one or two weeks.” 

He then walked out and left me with the divorce papers. He closed the door behind him, and his footsteps faded down the hallway, leaving me with a broken heart. 

I walked to the bed, sat down, took the pregnancy report, and stared at it for a moment as tears rolled down my eyes. 

It was such a pity that I couldn’t tell him about the baby that we had on the way together. 

“What now, baby?” I sobbed as my tears wet the report. 

*** 

After a long night of tossing and turning on the bed, I finally signed the divorce papers and packed all my bags to leave. 

Elijah had made it clear that he needed me out of the house the following day. 

His mother and sisters were in the living room as I carried my bags to the car outside. 

They were giggling together, and when I turned to say my goodbyes to them, his mother said something that left a scar in my heart. 

“If only I knew that she was a barren woman, I wouldn’t have insisted on my son’s marriage with her. Now I am finally going to carry my grandchild through Abigail, who has proven to be a real woman,” she snickered. 

Without saying anything more to them, I turned around and headed to the car outside with the help of the house helpers. 

I turned around when I got to the car and looked at the house that had been my home for two years and saw the worst and better parts of me, but as I was taking in the last moment at the Houston mansion, my eyes made contact with Elijah and Abigail on the balcony. 

Out of spite, she leaned her head on Elijah’s shoulder and waved at me. 

I got inside the car, caressed my stomach, and vowed that I was never going to let my child be close to the people who chased me out like a dog and mocked me as if I were nothing.