Chapter 2

Elinor POV:

My hands, once cradling life, now rested on a hollow space. My belly, still rounded from pregnancy, was empty. The ghost of a kick, a phantom flutter, was all that remained of the child I had carried for nine months. He was gone. My baby, my miracle, was gone.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. This perfect life, this perfect love, it was all a cruel joke. Every tender touch, every whispered promise, every organic kale, now felt like a punch to the gut. The irony choked me.

Aaron still held my hand, his grip loose, almost perfunctory. I calmly, deliberately, pulled my hand away. The gesture was small, but it felt monumental. A chasm opened between us, wider than any ocean.

"Do you remember, Aaron?" My voice was calm, almost detached. "That small café where you proposed? You knelt, a single red rose, promising me forever. You said I was the light of your life, your soulmate."

He flinched, his eyes flickering with a hint of discomfort. "Elinor, please. This isn't the time."

"You bought me that antique locket," I continued, ignoring him. "Engraved with 'A & E, Always.' You said our love was eternal, unbreakable. You said we would build a dynasty, a beautiful family."

He swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to his hands. "I meant it, Elinor. I still do."

"You meant it?" My voice cracked, tears finally streaming down my face. "You meant it when you left me to bleed, alone, while our baby died? You meant it when you chose her, again and again, over me, over our child? Did you ever truly see me, Aaron? Or was I just a convenient wife, a perfect prop for your perfect life?"

His face contorted, a flicker of something akin to pain in his eyes. He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Brie... she' s sick, Elinor. She' s fragile. She needs me."

"And I don't?" I asked, a fresh wave of despair washing over me. "Our baby didn' t? I don't recognize you anymore, Aaron. This man who stands before me... he's a stranger."

My voice grew stronger, fueled by a searing anger. "Get out, Aaron. Get out of my sight. I don't want to see you. Not now. Not ever."

He hesitated, then slowly rose, his shoulders slumped. He walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my grief, my rage, and the gaping wound of his betrayal.

The funeral was a blur. My parents and a few close friends stood by my side, their faces a mixture of sorrow and barely concealed fury at Aaron's absence. He didn't come. He sent flowers, a sterile white bouquet, and a note that read, "So sorry for your loss. Thinking of you." It felt like a final insult.

I stood by the tiny grave, a small, white casket lowered into the earth. The sky was gray, mirroring the landscape of my soul. I knelt, tracing the smooth marble of the headstone. Baby Jordan, Forever in Our Hearts.

"Hello, my sweet boy," I whispered, my voice raw. "Mommy's here. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."

My mother knelt beside me, her arm wrapped around my shoulders. "He's in a better place, my love. He's at peace."

"Maybe it's better this way, Mom," I said, the words surprising even myself. "Maybe he's spared a life with a father who couldn't choose him. Spared a life in a family that was already broken."

My mother looked at me, her eyes filled with a new kind of sorrow. She understood.

Just then, a car pulled up. Aaron. He emerged, alone, dressed in a dark suit, looking impeccably sad. He walked towards the grave, his gaze fixed on the small mound of earth. He knelt, placing a single red rose beside the headstone.

He reached out a hand, as if to touch the dirt, then hesitated. He looked at me, his eyes filled with a performative sorrow. "Elinor," he began, his voice low. "I... I just wanted to pay my respects."

"Respects?" My voice was laced with venom. "You want to pay respects to the child you abandoned? To the wife you betrayed?"

He flinched. "Elinor, I know you're hurting. But you're being unreasonable. I'm here now. I'm suffering too. He was my child."

"Your child?" I scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping me. "You forfeited that right the moment you walked out of that delivery room, Aaron. You are not a father to this child. And you are no longer a husband to me."

His face hardened. "Elinor, don't say that. You're emotional. You're not thinking straight."

"Oh, I'm thinking perfectly straight, Aaron," I said, my voice cold and clear. "And what I'm thinking is that your sorrow is a performance. Your guilt is a temporary inconvenience. And your love for me was a lie."

"How can you say that?" he demanded, his voice rising. "I loved you, Elinor! I still do! This is grief talking. We can get through this, together."

"Together?" I asked, a chilling calm settling over me. "There is no 'us,' Aaron. Only you and your promises. And me and my pain. Now, get out. Leave us alone."

He stared at me, his eyes wide, as if finally understanding the finality of my words. But then, a flicker of his old arrogance returned. "Elinor, I'm trying to be understanding. But you can't just dictate how I grieve. I have every right to be here."

"You have no rights here," I stated, my voice firm. "Not as a husband. Not as a father. And soon, not even as a distant memory. Now, leave."

He stood there, a strange mixture of anger and confusion on his face. He seemed poised to argue, to defend himself, to continue his charade. But before he could, a new figure stepped into the frame, her presence instantly shifting the dynamic.

It was Brie.