Page 88 of The Wedding Hoax

“Are you sure?” Mom reached out to grab my hand.

“Sure about what?”

“Sure about the baby,” she nearly whispered. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up, Simi. I remember how it was with Jace. If something happens to the baby—”

“I think it’s going to be okay this time, Mom,” I said with tears in my eyes. “I’ll need to be on bed rest pretty soon, just to be on the safe side. But yeah. I think I’m actually going to be a mom. It’s finally happening for me.”

“And it’s happening with the man you love.” She squeezed my hand in her palm. “This is such a beautiful moment, Simone. I’m so happy for you.”

I felt myself start to cry, hard, before I had a chance to catch myself.

“Oh, Simi. What’s wrong?”

“You were right, about Harry being gone. He’s not sleeping at his office. He’s sleeping in a hotel room.”

“Why? What happened?”

“We had a big fight.” I sniffled. “We both said things that we regret, or at least, I hope he regrets what he said, too.”

“What were you fighting about?”

I took a moment to think over the question. I didn’t want to tell my mom everything Harry said, because I didn’t want her to think any less of him. And there was no way she wouldn’t be as furious as I was if I told her about the gold digger accusations. She’d probably try to have us moved out of Harry’s house by the end of the day.

Ugh.

Even when I was upset with him, I still wanted to protect him.

I still wanted to protect the idea of us.

“We were fighting about the baby,” I finally answered. “Harry thought that I couldn’t get pregnant. The same thing I thought, too. And he wasn’t really ready for it when I told him that we’re having a child together.”

“Oh.” My mom’s face fell. “Well, that’s a little upsetting. And disappointing.”

“You can’t blame him.” I quickly shook my head. “Having a kid is a really big deal and he never even thought it was in the cards for him. It’s a lot to adjust to.”

“Still. To leave you here alone?”

“We both need time to figure out how we feel, Mom. That’s all this is.” I squeezed her hand back. “And I’m not alone, am I? I’m pretty sure you’re here with me, unless this is just a hallucination I’m having.”

“Hmm.” My mom thought for a moment, then looked at me. “I guess even good husbands make mistakes sometimes. No one’s perfect, and if you’re sure that he’s coming back, then I guess we’ll just have to wait for him to come home.”

“He will. He’ll come home soon.”

“Of course, he will, Simi.” My mom smiled. “Now, let’s think about what we want for lunch. I’m absolutely starving.”

As my mom rolled past me to open the fridge, I felt something sink inside my chest.

He’ll come home.

It was one of the biggest lies I’d ever told. I had no idea if Harry was ever going to come home. At least not to me. And if he did, there was no guarantee it was going to be a happy reunion.

For all I knew, he was coming home to break my heart.

* * *

Later that night, I was falling to pieces.

I still hadn’t heard anything from Harry, and it was starting to feel like maybe I never would again. I’d checked my phone so many times that my eyes were about to cross from staring at the screen, but I couldn’t help myself.

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