Dream On(62)
“That’s when she began pushing marriage. Asking if we could get married before the baby comes, how soon, when could we set a date, that sort of thing. She was relentless.” His expression hardens. “Then about a month later, I was at her apartment helping her pack—we were about to sign a lease on a two-bedroom condo in the suburbs—when I went into her bathroom and noticed a spot of blood on the toilet seat and the wrapper for a pad in the trash can,” he says softly.
The hairs on my arms stand on end, but he continues.
“I asked her if she was okay, and she said she’d been bleeding a little, but it was normal and nothing to worry about. Well, of course, I was worried—because it didn’t look like just a little blood to me, it looked like a lot—so I insisted she call her doctor. That’s when things got weird. She refused point-blank to call her doctor and accused me of overreacting. She said she knew her body best and everything was fine. Well, I wasn’t willing to chance it, so I found her ob-gyn’s number in her phone and called for her. It was after-hours, so the nurse on call told me she needed an ultrasound as soon as possible and that I should take her to the ER.”
“What did Sadie do then?” I say, almost afraid to ask.
“When I told her what the nurse said she turned as white as a sheet and could barely even speak.” He shakes his head. “It’s funny—looking back, I thought her reaction was concern for the baby, but now I see she was freaking out because she knew she couldn’t keep up the lie anymore. There was no way she could reasonably refuse to go to the hospital once her doctor’s office suggested it, so I drove her. That’s when I found out she wasn’t actually pregnant. An ultrasound confirmed it.”
Devin sighs. “Not that Sadie would have told me herself. She did everything in her power to keep me out of the hospital room and far away from the doctor—manufacturing things she wanted so I would get them for her, inventing errands. But I was there when he shared the results. No baby.”
I squeeze his arm so hard my fingers ache. “I’m so sorry, Devin.”
He nods heavily. “Her lies unraveled after that. Like why she only showed me a picture of a positive pregnancy test instead of the test itself—probably because she never actually took one and must have pulled a picture off the Internet. Or how she miraculously became pregnant despite being on birth control, and conveniently right around the time we’d started arguing more. I broke up with her that night and haven’t seen her since.”
“Unbelievable.” I shake my head. “Not you—I don’t blame you at all for breaking up with her. What she did was nuts. I just can’t understand why she’d want to strongarm you into marriage. That seems like a recipe for a miserable life.”
“My best guess? She did it for the money.” He shrugs. “Her family has always struggled financially, and her student loans put her pretty deep underwater. Even with a high-paying law job, it would have taken her decades to pay them off. She knew about my dad’s business and talked all the time about us moving to Cleveland so I could work for him and take over the company someday. So when we started fighting more, maybe she thought her golden ticket to a better life was about to disappear and decided to take any risk to keep me around… even if it backfired.”
“But how did she think she’d be able to keep a fake pregnancy a secret?” I press. “You were bound to find out a few months later when, whoops, no baby.”
His jaw muscles tighten. “I’m guessing she was planning to tragically ‘lose’ the baby as soon as she had a ring… there’s no other explanation.”
I blow out a long breath. “That’s messed up.”
“Tell me about it. Honestly, the whole thing messed me up for a while, but I’m doing a lot better now. Especially since I met you.” He gathers my hand in his and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “Enough about Sadie. She’s in the past. What do you say we head back inside?”
“You go ahead. I’d like to stay out here just a couple minutes longer. It really is so hot in there.” I pluck at where my romper clings to my waist and laugh.
“How about I get you some water?”
“Water would be great, thank you.”
Flashing a heart-melting smile over his shoulder, Devin strides across the patio and back into the bar. My shoulders slump as soon as he’s out of sight. He truly is so incredibly thoughtful. And I can barely fathom how difficult things have been for him over the past few months. So why can’t I shake the feeling that something’s still not quite right between us?
My phone buzzes against my hip and I pull it from my pocket. My chest lightens at the name on the screen: Perry Szymanski.
He’s texted me a photo. I tap it to make it larger, and my cheeks immediately warm. It’s a picture of my painting—the one I gave him earlier. It’s hanging next to a framed black-and-white family photo and a watercolor painting of what looks like Brandywine Falls. The bright colors pop against the soft white wall behind it, and the corners of at least three other frames peek out from the edges of the photo. He must have a gallery wall somewhere in his apartment, and he’s already added my painting to it. Sparks fizz in my chest like bubbles from a freshly opened can of pop.
Three dots appear quickly followed by a new text.
Check out the new crown jewel of my apartment: a Cass Walker original. Can you believe it? It was a gift from the artist herself. She’s quite talented, so I bet it’ll be worth a bundle someday.