“I know.”
“No. Stop saying that as though knowing makes it better.”
He lowered his eyes.
I took a slow breath.
“After Mom and Dad died, I spent years trying to hold onto whatever family we had left. When you asked me to carry your child, part of me thought maybe this was a way to bring something good into all that loss.”
My voice shook.
“I carried your daughter for months, Ryan. I changed my life. I went through pregnancy again because I trusted you. Because I believed I
was delivering Hope into the arms of two people who wanted her more than anything.”
A tear slipped down his cheek.
“And then you handed me your fear instead.”
He covered his mouth.
I continued.
“You used your daughter as an exit.”
Ryan slowly nodded.
“Say it.”
He looked at me.
“Ivy—”
“Say what you did.”
His face crumpled.
Finally, he forced out the words.
“I used Hope as a way to escape because I was drowning, and I was too ashamed to tell Melissa.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
It was ugly.
But it was honest.
And honesty, even painful honesty, was the first useful thing he had given any of us in months.
I stood.
“You’re telling Melissa.”
His eyes widened.
“Ivy—”
“Tonight.”
“She’ll leave me.”
“Maybe.”
He stared at me.
I didn’t soften.
“Maybe she will. Maybe she won’t. But you don’t get to make that decision for
