I pushed the stroller in to sell our home.

The agent ran through the routine questions.

"Selling the marital home—does your husband agree to this?"

The baby suddenly burst into tears.

With practiced ease, I cradled her in my left arm and signed with my right.

The signature came out a little crooked, because my wrist had been aching for a month.

"I'm widowed."

The man named Tom Henson was still very much alive.

Living exactly the way he had before our marriage—bright, golden, doing whatever he pleased.

But as my daughter's father, the day she was born, he died.

My phone rang. It was Tom.

On the other end came the voice of a young woman.

"Mr. Henson, you poor thing, what you have to put up with!"

"You, so polished and refined, and your wife such a slob!"

"Look at this place, what a mess. A mouse would need GPS to find its way through!"

"Ugh, why does it smell like crap in here? Gross—"

Then Tom's voice came through, pinched with disgust, like he was holding his nose.

"She didn't used to be like this."

"She got lazy after she had the kid."

I calmly handed the contract back to the agent.

However much I loved him before the pregnancy, before the birth.

That's exactly how much I hated him after she came into the world.

——

"Mom, I've booked the flight."

"Sweetheart, are you really sure about leaving? Ten years together—"

"Sunk costs don't factor into major decisions."

"Good. The baby isn't on a birth certificate yet, right? Register her back in Southport. She takes your name."

"Mm. That's exactly what I'm planning."

After I took a cab home.

A strange calm settled over me.

However fiercely I'd loved back then, that's how deep the hatred cut now.

So what if we'd been the model campus couple.

Moonlight and romance don't stand a chance against the grinding, petty mess of real life.

Holding my daughter, my exhausted body sank into the couch.

How had Tom and I gotten to this point?

The day he found out I was unexpectedly pregnant, Tom was overjoyed.

"Maggie, once things settle down, I'll give you the grand wedding you deserve."

He stroked my belly, his eyes shining.

"Maggie, trust me, I'll be a good father."

We'd been together ten years, from nineteen to twenty-nine.

I believed him. I believed he'd be a good father.

I believed the marriage license was just a formality.

So I settled in to focus on the pregnancy.

He hired a new assistant, Elena Fox, to take over my old role.

After that, he was always busy.

Busy painting.

Busy with his students.

Busy giving interviews.

Busy putting on exhibitions.

I waited and waited for his "once things settle down," and it never came.

But there was always Elena's shadow at his side.

He missed one prenatal checkup after another.

I called him.

Elena answered.

"So sorry, ma'am, Mr. Henson is in the middle of an interview."

The day my water broke and I went to the hospital.

I called 911 myself.

Elena had packed the hospital bag.

One pack of diapers and two baby onesies. That was it.

She wore an apologetic look.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am, I don't really know about these things."

"Mr. Henson is just so busy, he couldn't get to it. So I took the liberty—"

I came within an inch of death on that delivery table.

The nurse wheeled me and the baby back to the room.

Elena was peeling an apple for my mother-in-law.

Jeanette Dickerson had a smile on her face.

"Elena, honey, if only you were my daughter-in-law. Young and so capable!"

Then she saw me come in.

Jeanette's eyes flicked over the wrinkled little face in the stroller with open distaste.

"Just as I thought—too old, and a useless womb to match!"

I ignored the contempt in her eyes.

"Where's Tom? I just gave birth and he isn't here at my side?"

Elena explained with a smile.

"Ma'am, Mr. Henson is working on a new piece. It needs his full attention."

"You can't go interrupting his inspiration over some little thing!"

Jeanette chimed in.

"Exactly. Plenty of women have babies. What's all the fuss about?"

Then she gave Elena Fox's hand a knowing little pat.

"They never registered the marriage, so don't go calling her his wife. It isn't appropriate."

I pretended not to understand, biting down on the tearing pain as I lay back against the hospital bed.

In the delivery room, hemorrhaging while they fought to save me, I finally understood.

People change.

The love back then was real.

This neglect now was real too.

There was someone at Tom's side again, someone in step with him.

And that someone wasn't me anymore.

I was extra.

I dug out my phone. Tom had sent exactly one message.

From more than ten hours ago.

【Focus on having the baby. My mom and Elena are both there.】

The very next second, I watched Jeanette and Elena Fox walking out the door, their backs to me.

"All right, since the baby's out, I can finally relax."

"Elena, let's go grab a bite."

Elena's voice practically sang.

"Sounds great. I heard a new French place opened nearby. Let's go try it."

The baby lay in the bassinet, crying loud enough to split my eardrums.

I lay flat on the hospital bed, every part of me coming apart, unable to get up.

The moment my child was born, I became a mother.

Body and soul.

And Tom was still that same boy lost in his paintings, lost in his pretty little romances.

The tears and the bleeding never stopped.

I told myself: this child no longer had a father.

The postpartum nurse from the next bed couldn't stand to watch. She came over and changed the baby's diaper for me.

"A baby this small only cries for three reasons. Hungry, wet, or dirty."

"Do you have any other family here?"

I shook my head.

"No."

"Help me find a postpartum nurse. Starting right now. I'll pay extra."

In five days at the hospital, Tom never showed up once.

When he happened to remember me, a few messages would pop up on my phone.

【Maggie, thank you for giving me such a beautiful daughter.】

【Elena sent me the photos.】

Elena Fox came every day, as if filling in for Tom's husbandly duties, and she went through the motions with zero effort.

"Miss Pruitt, Mr. Henson has a lecture today. He can't make it."

"Miss Pruitt, Mr. Henson's giving a talk at his alma mater today. It's all scheduled. Can't be canceled."

She called me Miss Pruitt.

Not his wife. Not anymore.

She came every day to report Tom's schedule to me.

But mostly, she came to gloat.

Because she was the only channel I had. Only through her could I learn where my child's father was that day, what he was doing.

Every day she photographed my daughter and sent the pictures to Tom.

Then she'd mock her.

【Mr. Henson, your daughter doesn't really look like you, haha.】

【Mr. Henson, she's so ugly.】

【Mr. Henson, this is what they call a vaginal-birth cone head. Looks like something out of Alien.】

I texted Tom.

【When are you coming?】

Two hours later, he finally replied:

【Once I get through this stretch.】

【My mom and Elena are both there. They'll take good care of you.】

I stopped texting.

You can't wake a man who's only pretending to sleep.

That "once I'm through this" was never coming.

The day I was discharged, the wind was fierce.

I called the rideshare myself.

The postpartum nurse carried the baby for me.

There was almost no luggage.

Just the baby's bottles and diapers, and my disposable underwear.

The clothes on my body already reeked.

Sweat mixed with blood.

Those few days of giving birth were the most wretched of my entire life.

If Tom wouldn't show up, then fine. He never needed to show up again.

The resentment surged up in me.

I warned myself. Don't hate. Don't stew.

It would make me sick.

It would clog my milk.

The first would only hurt me.

The second would hurt me and my baby both.

I was a mother now. For my child's sake, I had to be strong.

The first day home.

Tom happened to be packing his suitcase.

"Maggie, I'm headed to the Capital for a few days. There's an exhibition."

"Just focus on your recovery. My mom will take good care of you."

My mother-in-law took the baby with a smile, cradling her against her chest, all tenderness.

"Go on, son, don't worry about a thing. Your career comes first."

"I'll take good care of my precious granddaughter!"

Elena swept into the room in a rush.

"Mr. Henson, hurry up. The driver's already waiting downstairs."

Tom pinched our daughter's little cheek, looking almost reluctant to leave.

"Be good, sweetheart. Daddy will bring you a present when he comes home."

Then his brow furrowed.

"Maggie, why do you smell so bad? Do you even shower?"

I clenched my jaw.

Said nothing.

The whole time I was in the hospital, I'd had nothing but the gown they gave me. No change of clothes.

He never once asked me what I needed.

He never once asked me if I was hungry.

He never once asked me if I was in pain.

Forget it. Whether he was truly oblivious or only pretending, it didn't matter anymore.

As far as I was concerned, my child's father was already dead.

Tom picked up his suitcase and left with Elena.

Before she went, Elena turned and gave me a long, deliberate look.

Her eyes settled on my belly, still swollen.

"Ma'am, you've already had the baby. How come your stomach is still so big?"

Tom glanced back, his brow creasing.

"You never used to be like this. You should lose some weight."

The two of them had barely stepped out before my mother-in-law shoved the baby into my arms.

"You had her, you carry her. My back hurts."

She'd just finished griping about her back when she turned around, changed her clothes, and went off to the dance class over in the next neighborhood.

So I called in a postpartum nurse too.

One to handle the baby, one to handle the cooking.

That way I'd have more time to take care of myself.

After a full day out gallivanting, my mother-in-law slammed the door coming in.

"What's the meaning of this?"

"The help only cooks for you and not for me?"

"You trying to starve me to death?"

I was nursing the baby. I didn't even look up.

"The nurse is only here for me and the baby."

"You've got two hands and two feet. You can cook for yourself."

A little while later, my phone rang.

It was Tom.

"Maggie! My mom is working herself to the bone for you, and you treat her like this?"

"She cried on the phone for ages."

"She's your elder. How could you—"

I cut him off.

"Tom, I'm exhausted. I don't want to get into this with you."

"Whether your mom is run ragged or not has nothing to do with me."

Tom was indignant.

"Margaret, you never used to be like this!"

I hung up.

Drew in a deep breath.

"Tom, you never used to be like this either."

Once, when I'd nicked my finger, he'd ached for me like it was the end of the world.

"These hands were meant for painting."

"Now you've hurt yourself cooking for me. From now on, I'll be twice as good to you."

Back then, out in the world, I poured everything into supporting his career.

At home, I worked hard at learning how to be a good wife.

And now, after a labor that turned into an emergency C-section, after walking right up to death's door and back—

all he had for me was one line.

"You never used to be like this."

Elena updated her social media feed.

In a trendy restaurant in the Capital, she and Tom were clinking glasses.

Like a couple head over heels in love.

Even the photo was dripping with atmosphere.