Page 17 of Fake Wife for Dr. Secret Daddy

Winnie

I heave out a sigh as Ted leaves. I wonder if he doesn’t get the message already.

I’m over him and he should stop trying. I only needed relief last night.

I grab Luna’s favorite bunny and hug it to my chest, as I sit on the couch in the nursery, curling myself in a ball.

That should have been my girls in that cot, sleeping soundly. I can’t help but imagine, as my eyes move over to sleeping Luna.

I still can’t believe how possible it is for my girls to have been stillborn. I had done everything.

I have followed the right diets, avoided anything unhealthy, never missed any of my medical checkups, done recommended exercises, and rested enough.

I can bet that I even heard their cries before I entered an unexplainable deep sleep afterward.

So how were they stillborn?

And if not for Dr. Sam Gates, I’d be crazy by now. I feel like I still owe him and his family for putting me in a facility for 15 months, paying completely for it, and following me up, so I would not relapse to my catatonic state again.

And then his wife, Mrs. Grace Gates. A sweet woman who did check up on me daily, on getting back from New York, after several months of staying there with Ted.

She blames the fact that missing my parents must have been the trigger.

That is not so far from the truth, but I still can’t tell her, or even Ted, that I lost a pregnancy that was Ted’s.

Both she and Ted did leave for New York City, a day after my 20th birthday and I have a strong feeling that Ted happily jumped into the idea of sleeping with me, knowing very well he’ll be leaving soon, so he will not have to deal with me or my feelings afterward.

I was only a fling to him, a one-night stand and it didn’t mean anything to him. So why will I bother over a shitty apology he gives, when I used him to satisfy my urge. We are now on the same pedestal, so he should take a chill pill. He isn’t special to me anymore.

I accepted to be Luna’s nanny to show appreciation to Ted’s family. But I need to find answers—and I realize Ted’s dad, my OBGYN, knows more about the disappearance of my girls than he let on.

I do not know if I should still feel guilty about the fact that it’s just Dr. Sam who has been the only one aware of my pregnancy.

I can’t let Ted know because it’s no use anymore. Mrs. Grace Gates can’t know because it would break her, and she could possibly blame herself for something she has no control over.

And Austin, my brother? I didn’t want him getting worked up. Being in the military in a foreign land alone, is more than enough stress on him.

Austin left before the time I had gotten pregnant and had been away for over a year, which made it easy for him not to find out about the pregnancy.

Even when we talked on the phone and had our video calls, I always placed the camera at an angle that he would not notice.

Probably when he almost caught on was when he noticed how fuller I looked.

He jokingly asked if I was pregnant, knowing how my frame was.

I quickly responded, concealing the look of guilt on my face, that I had been eating and sleeping a lot since I didn’t have anything to do, and immediately changed the topic.

He still would have caught on when he had rounded up his service and was to come home, that was close to my labor period.

He suddenly called one day to say he wouldn’t be able to make it home soon enough because he had something important to deal with in Texas. I was tempted to let the cat out of the bag, but praise heavens I decided to surprise him instead when he got back.

Unfortunately, the surprise never came and by the time he was back, I was already in the facility and was also told the lie about me missing my family. Our dad died shortly before Austin left, while our mom died 22 years ago right after giving birth to me.

I’m glad he bought the lie; at least it saved him from the heartache I had to deal with myself.

And of course, when he got back, the news of my pregnancy got to him.

I easily denied every allegation and assured him that it was just a small-town rumor, he shouldn’t worry about it, and that was settled.

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