Page 114 of The Husband Hour
“Pregnant? Who’s the father?”
“Well, Lauren, that’s not something she’s talking about. I get the feeling it was a one-night stand. But let’s focus on the positive. You’re going to be an aunt!”
Only after Lauren hung up did she think to wonder why Stephanie hadn’t called to tell her herself.
Of course she hadn’t told her.
Because she was carrying Rory’s baby.
Lauren screamed, then pulled off her wedding band and threw it against the wall. She ejected the disc, tossed it onto the floor, and—driven by a rage so pure it showed there was, in fact, an emotion stronger than grief—she grabbed the picture frame holding the image of herself with Stephanie and used it to pound the plastic disc into pieces.
Beth waded into the pool up to her waist, then found a nice sunny spot and leaned against the wall. She adjusted her wide-brimmed hat, knowing it was a losing battle because of the reflection off the water. Don’t worry about your skin, she told herself, enjoy the moment. She exhaled deeply.
Across the deck, Stephanie flipped through magazines on a lounge chair, temporarily relieved of mothering duty. Ethan, worn out from all the eating and swimming, was inside napping.
Beth closed her eyes. She could use a nap herself, but in a good way. She felt relaxed instead of exhausted.
“You’re a monster!” Lauren screamed.
Beth pushed up the brim of her hat and saw Lauren looming over Stephanie’s chair. She stood up straight, shocked by the sudden rancor between the two.
“What did Matt say to you?” Stephanie said.
“Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’m wrong, Stephanie.”
Stephanie sat up, hugging her knees to her chest.
“It was a huge, huge mistake. But it was that summer the two of you weren’t together—”
“That’s just geography! Of course we were together!”
“That’s not what he told me.”
“Well, that’s convenient. He’s not exactly around to defend himself.”
Stephanie looked stricken. “I don’t mean that as an excuse; I’m just trying to explain my thinking at the time. I was just—I rationalized that you had done the same thing to me.”
“In what universe? Do you even hear yourself?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense now. But back then…I was young. I was drunk. And I was jealous of you. It just…happened. A onetime thing.”
“And Ethan?”
What about Ethan? Beth waited for Stephanie to respond, but she didn’t.
“I hate you,” Lauren said, sobbing.
Stephanie covered her face with her hands, and Beth rushed out of the pool, almost tripping over the flip-flops she’d left at the edge.
“Girls, what is going on?”
Lauren didn’t take her eyes off Stephanie. “Are you going to tell her? Or should I?”
“Lauren, don’t—”
“I want you out of the house by the end of the day,” Lauren said to Stephanie, then turned to Beth. “I need you to get her out of this house. I never want to see her again.”
“Just…everyone calm down. Lauren, whatever the issue is between the two of you, you have to work it out. Stephanie isn’t leaving.”
