Chapter 3
Pregnancy made Dominic colder.
Not at first.
At first, he performed beautifully.
He posted nothing, of course, because my family valued privacy, but he told the right people. Accepted congratulations with modest smiles. Rested one hand on my back at public dinners like a man protecting his future.
At home, he became impatient.
My morning sickness annoyed him.
My exhaustion disrupted him.
My doctor’s appointments were “difficult to schedule around.”
Victoria became worse.
She called every symptom dramatic.
Every boundary disrespectful.
Every decision “not how our family does things.”
When I said I wanted my father in the hospital waiting room, Dominic laughed.
“You’re thirty-one, Audrey. You don’t need Daddy hovering.”
Victoria added, “Birth is for the husband’s family. The Brookses can visit later.”
The Brookses.
As if my father were a guest organization.
I should have fought harder then.
But pregnancy had made me tired in ways sleep could not repair, and Dominic was very good at making resistance feel childish.
Leo arrived by emergency C-section after thirty-six hours of labor.
I remember bright lights.
Cold air.
A blue curtain.
Dominic’s hand in mine, then gone when Victoria called his phone from the waiting room.
The surgery left me split open, stitched closed, emptied, filled with love and pain at once.
When the nurse placed Leo against my cheek, I cried so hard my incision hurt.
Dominic looked at him and said, “He has my mouth.”
Not our son is here.
Not you did it.
His mouth.
Victoria arrived two hours later holding a designer baby blanket she said looked “more appropriate” than the hospital one.
My father was allowed in last.
He did not complain.
He walked to my bed, saw my face, and his eyes filled.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered.
That one word made me cry harder than the surgery.
He looked at Leo, then back at me.
“Tell me the truth. Are they taking care of you?”
Dominic stood near the window, smiling politely.
Victoria adjusted flowers.
I said, “I’m okay.”
My father held my gaze for three seconds too long.
Then he kissed my forehead.
May you like
“No, you’re not.”
Read the full story 👉 Audrey tried to protect Dominic’s image even after the C-section, but Charles could see she was being isolated.
