Mom came to visit and complimented the living room.
She even asked Ethan for advice about a repair she needed at her own house.
I remember feeling absurdly happy about that small exchange.
Perhaps, I thought, she was finally seeing the man I had always seen.
Around the same time, Ethan began spending weekends working on what he described as an investment property.
He’d leave early Saturday morning, return late in the afternoon, and sometimes disappear again on Sunday.
Whenever I asked what he was doing, he gave me vague answers.
“Repairs.”
“Paperwork.”
“Meeting with a contractor.”
I assumed he was expanding his business.
I had no reason to suspect anything else.
Three months before our fifth anniversary, I discovered I was pregnant.
Ethan stared at the test in my hand for nearly a minute.
Then he sat down on the bathroom floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He looked up at me with tears in his eyes.
