Chapter 4

"Sarah?" Ethan finally managed, his voice raspy. He took a step towards me, a flicker of the old arrogance in his eyes. "Wow, you... you clean up nice." It wasn't a compliment, more a surprised observation, as if he expected me to be wallowing in misery without him.

Tiffany elbowed him. "Yeah, Sarah. Nice dress. Must have cost a fortune," she said, her tone laced with envy. "We're doing okay too. Ethan's up for a promotion at the plant. We're thinking of getting a bigger trailer."

Ethan puffed out his chest. "Yeah, once I get that promotion, I'll buy you a dress just like that, Tiff. Even better." An empty promise, I knew. They were barely scraping by.

Then Ethan, completely ignoring Mark, focused on me. "So, still chasing that big career, huh? We're thinking of starting a family soon ourselves," he announced, a smug look on his face. "You should send a nice gift when the baby comes. For old times' sake." His entitlement was breathtaking.

I just smiled faintly. In my first life, after years of trying, doctors told us I was the reason we couldn't conceive. Ethan had latched onto that, another failing he could attribute to me. But this life was different. I knew the truth now.

Ethan, however, was still stuck in his old delusions. He looked from me to Mark, then to Leo, his eyes narrowing. "Still trying to make me jealous, Sarah?" he sneered. "Hiring actors to play your family? It won't work." He actually believed I was incapable of happiness without him, that my current life was some elaborate charade.

He then leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial, cruel whisper. "I know you can't have kids, Sarah. Remember? The doctors said so. It was always your problem." He said it with such certainty, such malice, a ghost from a past he thought only he remembered.

Mark, who had been silent until now, stepped forward, his arm protectively around my waist. "Excuse me?" he said, his voice calm but firm. "This is my wife, Sarah, and this is our son, Leo." He gestured to my bump. "And our daughter is due in four months."

Ethan stared, his face a mixture of shock and utter confusion. He looked at Leo, then at my belly, then back at my face. "No... that's not possible," he stammered. "You... you can't." He was still clinging to his first-life "facts," unable to process the reality in front of him.

He kept insisting. "It's a lie! You're lying, Sarah! You can't have children!" His voice was getting louder, attracting stares from other diners.