Chapter 4 - Two Pregnancies
Andrew finally said the word in Tessa’s apartment lobby.
“Yes.”
Grace heard it clearly.
Yet her mind refused to place it anywhere.
“Yes, what?”
Andrew looked at her.
“Yes. Noah is mine.”
The lobby seemed to tilt.
Tessa reached for Grace’s arm.
Grace stepped away from both of them.
“How?”
Andrew actually looked confused.
Grace laughed.
“No, I understand biology. I mean how did you manage to stand beside me while we tried to have a baby knowing another woman was carrying yours?”
“Claire didn’t know at first.”
“Didn’t know what?”
“That she was pregnant.”
Grace stared at him.
“Were you sleeping with her before my miscarriage?”
Andrew closed his eyes.
“One time.”
Tessa made a small sound of disbelief.
“One time,” Andrew repeated. “Months before.”
“How many months?”
“Grace—”
“How many?”
“Three.”
She did the math.
Grace had been seven weeks pregnant when Andrew slept with Claire.
Their own baby had already existed.
He had come home afterward.
He had kissed Grace.
He had touched her stomach.
He had discussed names.
“How could you?”
“I was drunk.”
“Were you drunk for twenty-two monthly transfers?”
“No.”
“Were you drunk every time you lied?”
Andrew’s voice cracked.
“I panicked.”
Grace had heard that word before from cheating husbands in movies, memoirs and friends’ stories.
Somehow panic was always expected to explain decisions that required months of planning.
“When did Claire tell you?”
“About a week before your miscarriage.”
Grace’s face went numb.
That explained the hotel.
Claire had not been suicidal.
She had been pregnant.
Andrew had gone to discuss his child while Grace was losing theirs.
“You chose to stay with her that night.”
“I didn’t know what was happening with you until—”
“I told you I was bleeding.”
“I thought it might stop.”
“You knew I was going to the hospital.”
Andrew’s voice rose.
“And Claire was telling me she might keep my child! I had two emergencies happening at once.”
Grace stared at him.
“Two emergencies?”
He realized it too late.
“Our baby dying was an emergency to you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“And your girlfriend deciding whether to have your child was another.”
“She was not my girlfriend.”
Grace laughed.
It came out broken.
Tessa stepped forward.
“Andrew, you should leave.”
“No. She needs to hear everything.”
Grace looked at her.
“Yes. I do.”
So Andrew told the story he had spent two years hiding.
He and Claire reconnected at a college fundraising dinner.
They talked.
They drank.
One night became an affair Andrew insisted lasted only several hours.
Then Grace became pregnant.
Andrew decided he would never speak to Claire again.
Six weeks later, Claire called.
She was pregnant too.
Andrew begged her not to contact Grace.
Claire agreed, provided Andrew supported the child.
“Provided?” Grace asked. “You mean paid her to stay quiet.”
“I support my son.”
“With our money.”
“I earn most of that money.”
The sentence escaped before he could stop it.
Grace stared at him.
Tessa’s expression became ice.
Andrew immediately shook his head.
“I didn’t mean that.”
“No,” Grace said. “You did.”
Grace had left a marketing director position four years earlier to help Andrew launch a property-development division with his father’s company.
She handled branding, client presentations, investor events and communications.
Officially, she worked part-time.
Unofficially, she had built half the polished public image Andrew used to advance his career.
“I want you to leave,” she said.
“Grace, please.”
“No.”
“Can we go home?”
She almost admired the audacity.
“You think I’m going home with you?”
“I think our marriage deserves a conversation.”
“We’re having one.”
“Without your lawyer.”
“Tessa was my friend before she was my lawyer.”
Andrew turned toward the glass doors.
Then stopped.
“Do you want to meet Noah?”
Grace recoiled.
“What?”
“He’s innocent.”
“Don’t use that little boy to make me feel guilty for what you did.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
His shoulders dropped.
“Grace, I love you.”
For years those words had functioned like a reset button.
Now they sounded unfinished.
Grace asked, “Did you love me when you slept with Claire?”
“Yes.”
“When you lied at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“When Noah was born?”
Andrew said nothing.
Grace continued.
“When you held me while I cried because I believed my body had failed us, did you love me then?”
He began crying.
“Yes.”
Grace nodded.
“Then your love is not enough.”
Andrew left.
That evening, Grace sat with Tessa going through bank records.
At 9:20 p.m., Francis called.
“I confronted him.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“I know.”
“Did he tell you about Noah?”
“Yes.”
Francis sounded as if she had aged ten years in a day.
“I asked why he never told me.”
Grace almost laughed.
“Now you know how it feels.”
“I do.”
Another silence.
Then Francis said something unexpected.
“I want to help you.”
“With what?”
“Lawson Development.”
Grace frowned.
“What about it?”
“There are things Andrew has done that have nothing to do with Claire.”
Tessa immediately leaned closer.
“Financial things?”
“Yes.”
Grace’s exhaustion disappeared.
Francis continued.
“I think some of the money he sent Claire may have come from company accounts.”
“That doesn’t make sense. We saw transfers from our joint account.”
“Those are the ones you saw.”
Grace’s grip tightened around the phone.
“How many are there?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Francis.”
“I’m looking.”
“Why?”
Her mother-in-law’s answer surprised her.
“Because I helped my son hide one terrible truth from you.”
Her voice broke.
“I’m not helping him hide another.”
The next morning, Francis arrived at Tessa’s apartment carrying a banker’s box.
Inside were invoices.
Expense reports.
Cancelled checks.
And one document that made Tessa sit down.
It was a loan agreement.
$310,000.
Borrower: Benton Consulting LLC.
Lender: Lawson Development Holdings.
Authorized by: Andrew Lawson.
Grace looked up.
“Three hundred and ten thousand dollars?”
Francis nodded.
“Andrew has been financing Claire’s life with company money.”
But Tessa was staring at something else.
“Grace.”
She pointed to the guarantor line.
Grace Lawson.
May you like
Grace’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Grace had never seen the document in her life.
