Reid
There’s a knock at the door and Jason gets up to answer it. We’ve been playing the new Call of Duty game for the last hour or so. It’s rare that we get any time to sit and play games these days, considering I’m spending most of my time with Kara. It’s been good to catch up with the boys but I miss my girl. I whip out my phone to text her but look up at the sound of her voice. A smile spreads across my face but it’s soon replaced by concern when she silently stands looking at me, a frown etched on her face. Zoey is stood next to her. I’m not sure why she’d be here. We might have put the past behind us, but I don’t exactly want her paying a visit.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Can we talk somewhere in private? There’s something you should know.”
I don’t like the pained sound of her voice, and I just want to wrap her in my arms, protecting her from whatever is on her mind.
“Sure, let’s go to my room.”
I stand and lead the way to my bedroom. I wish I’d tidied it instead of being pulled into play COD with the boys. Zoey follows behind us both, and I’m really worried there’s something wrong if she’s here holding Kara’s hand.
“Sit down,” I say, patting the space next to me as I perch at the foot of my bed.
Kara sits next to me but won’t look at me. I reach out to cup her face and gently encourage her to make eye contact. Zoey stands to the side of her, one hand laid on Kara’s shoulder. Her face is solemn, and I don’t think I’m going to like whatever it is they’re here to discuss.
“I’m sorry, Reid. I’m so sorry. I just want you to know that before I say what needs to be said.”
The sadness dripping from her voice breaks my heart. Her words tell me she’s ending things between us, but I don’t get why. And why would she bring her friend—even if she is her best friend—with her if she’s doing this to me? I thought things were so good between us lately. So good in fact, I had been looking at rings.
Pushing a phone in my direction, Zoey swipes the screen to unlock it, and I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to be seeing. It looks like a woman bending over a pram.
“Kara, what is this? I don’t get what I’m supposed to be seeing. Help me connect the dots.”
I choose not to address Zoey, even though it’s her phone. It seems that Kara is pretty upset by whatever it is, and I want to ease her concerns, erase the frown that’s marring her beautiful features.
“It’s Molly. She’s been faking this whole time.”
At her words, I take the phone from her and look more closely. It really is Molly. But I still don’t get what the photo is about.
“Enlarge the image, like this,” Zoey says as she enlarges the shot of Molly.
“I still don’t get it. This is Molly looking at a pram. So what?”
I’m so confused. What has this got to do with anything?
“Look at this line, Reid. Follow it to the strap,” Kara says, her voice laced with sadness.
I scratch my head in confusion, but do as she says. There’s a line along Molly’s baby bump and then there’s a wide strap. Zoey swipes to another image, this one taken at a slightly different angle. What the hell is going on? I can see a large white strap around Molly’s back where her top rides up as she bends over.
“What on earth am I looking at here?”
Kara looks at me, her gaze tinged with sadness. Her eyes look red and slightly puffy. I don’t know how I didn’t notice when she came in.
“She’s not pregnant, Reid. She’s wearing a fake baby bump.”
“What?”
Now I’m even more confused. A fake bump? I can’t make head nor tail of what she’s saying.
“Reid,” she says softly as she takes my hand in hers, “Molly is faking being pregnant. This here in the photo, it’s a fake bump, obviously worn so we don’t question why she isn’t showing this far into her pregnancy.”
“How is that even possible, Kara?”
“Trust me, I didn’t want to believe it either. Zoey and I had to Google it to make sense of it ourselves after we saw her. You can get a fake bump on eBay for as little as thirty pounds.”
“But I’ve seen her bump grow.”
“There are different size bumps. She must have more than one. I looked it up to be sure. I wanted to know what I was talking about before coming to you. Trust me, I wouldn’t be doing this to you if I didn’t know in my heart that I’m right.”
My heart plummets into my stomach. I can’t make sense of what I’m hearing, what I’m seeing. I take the phone from Zoey’s hand and Google fake baby bumps. As I scroll through images, I see that they look exactly like what I saw in the photos of Molly. I look at a result for eBay and find that you can indeed buy them in different sizes. I don’t understand why Molly would do this, but I do know that Kara isn’t lying. I think in my heart I knew she was speaking the truth from the moment she first opened her mouth, but my mind refused to register what it was being told.
I look at Kara and see she’s silently crying. I reach out to comfort her and she wraps her arms around me. Pulling her into my lap, I let her tears soak into my t-shirt, and I bury my face in her hair, crying red hot tears of my own. We sit in the same position for who knows how long before I cradle her chin in my hand and draw her face up to mine. I place a chaste kiss on her lips and taste the salt of her tears.
“I need to confront her, don’t I?”
My words come out more like a question than a statement. I know what needs to be done but it doesn’t mean I want to do it.
“Yes, Reid, and the sooner, the better,” Zoey says.
“Will you come with me, Kara?”
I probably have no right to ask her to do that, considering how it’s hurt her already, but I don’t want to confront this on my own.
“If you want me to, of course I will.”
We rise to our feet and I look for my shoes. I take Kara’s hand as we leave my room and lead the girls back to the lounge.
“Boys, there’s something I need to do. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, so get a takeaway like we planned, just don’t worry about ordering for me, I have no appetite anyway.”
Liam and Jason look up at me in confusion. I can’t have this discussion with them right now.
“Everything’s okay, I’m just popping out with Kara for a little while to take care of something.”
“Are you okay, bro?” Jase asks.
“Yeah, man, I’m good. Just need to do something is all. Don’t worry about me.”
“If you’re sure?” he asks.
I just nod in reply before taking Kara’s hand and walking to the front door.
Once outside, Zoey heads for her car.
“How come you two came to me together about this?”
“We were shopping together for Thea when we saw Molly in the store. Zo got close enough to take photos. I’m sorry, I should have explained earlier.”
“Oh. Okay.”
I don’t know what to say, so I stand there and wait for Zoey to get in her car and pull out of my driveway.
“Can you send these pictures to me, Zo?” Kara asks as Zoey starts the engine.
I don’t hear her reply, but I assume she agrees because Kara thanks her and tells her to go home. Zoey begins to back out of my driveway and Kara walks over to my car.
We get in and I look at Kara with a small smile. She returns the gesture, but there’s no light shining in her eyes like normal.
On the drive to Molly’s house, Kara explains exactly what happened in the baby store. I can feel a simmering rage inside me, and I feel the need to punch the hell out of something. I hit the steering wheel, causing Kara to jump. I apologise and lay my hand over hers, which she’s placed on my thigh.
“This shit is just like out of a movie, not real life,” I say as I turn onto Molly’s road a few minutes later.
“I know, baby, I know. I couldn’t believe it either.”
Kara shakes her head sadly and I know her heart is breaking for me. That’s how much she loves me. She knows what I went through when Zoey lost our baby. For Molly to allow me to believe she was pregnant, to show me a baby scan, to make me believe we were having a son…I can’t get my mind around it.
We get out of the car and walk up the short path to Molly’s door. Kara knocks quietly and then stands back to take my hand in hers. She squeezes it gently, giving me a small comfort.
Molly answers the door and looks shocked to see us, but soon her plastic smile fills her face. Why couldn’t I see before just how fake she was? I can see it now though, and that’s what matters.
She asks us inside, and neither of us say a word as we walk through to take a seat in the lounge. Molly offers us a drink but we both decline, so she sits on the chair opposite us.
“Is there something you need to tell me, Molly?”
I offer her the opportunity to confess before I do anything else.
“Like what, Reid?”
“Something about our son?” my subtle emphasis on the word son has her looking at me funnily.
“No, just that everything was A-okay at the last appointment I had. I heard his heartbeat and he’s perfectly healthy.”
How she lies so smoothly I will never know. If she doesn’t want to answer, then fine, I’ll play along with her façade a little longer.
“Oh right. When was that? Is there a reason why you didn’t tell me when the appointment was?”
“It was two weeks ago. I did text you, but I never got a reply, so I assumed you weren’t able to come.”
The lies just pile up so neatly. She’s a devious bitch, I’ll give her that.
“So what about the fact that I didn’t get notice about your twenty week scan either, Molly? You sent me a picture message of the scan of my son, rather than allowing me to be present.”
“Well, I texted you about that too.”
“And you thought a text was enough, did you? You couldn’t have called me? Even if I hadn’t been able to answer, you could have left me a voicemail.”
I never received any damn text and she knows it.
The fact I didn’t get to go to her first or second scan, the fact that she’s never asked me along to midwife appointments like she promised she would, the pictures of the fake bump, only being able to see scan pictures but not to hear my son’s heartbeat…everything adds up to this woman being a completely sociopathic bunny boiler. I’m surprised there isn’t a fucking bunny stew on the stove right now.
“I…umm…” she stutters, seeming to be lost for an answer for once.
“Let me get this straight, Molly. You are pregnant with my son and I swear I’ll be there for you every step of the way. I promise to attend every scan, midwife, doctor, or hospital appointment you have. I give you money to buy things our son will need. But you can’t do something as simple as make a phone call? You can’t come to my house if you can’t get hold of me? You know where I live, for fuck’s sake. You know where my girlfriend works, you know my brother and his boyfriend. There are any number of ways for you to get a message to me. But no, I don’t get any fucking message because there isn’t one to get.”
I stand up and begin to pace in front of the fireplace. The simmering rage from earlier is now bubbling through my veins and I want to get to the bottom of her goddamn lies. I want to get out of here, hit the gym, and beat the fuck out of a punch bag.
“I don’t know what you mean, Reid.”
“Cut the bullshit, you lying bitch.”
I can’t believe those words just came out of my sweet Kara’s mouth. My lips quirk in a slight grin.
“I beg your pardon?” Molly feigns being affronted.
“You heard me. Tell the man the truth about your son,” she air quotes the last word with her fingers.
“What about him?”
“Well, you could start with the fact that he’s a figment of your sick, deluded imagination. Then you could show him your silicone bump.”
“My what?”
Molly stands and looms over Kara. I almost intervene, but Kara stands, beating me to it.
“This!” she shouts as she lifts Molly’s top and exposes her sick lies.
“How dare you,” Molly says as she struggles to pull her top back down.
There’s the distinct sound of a slap and I look to see Kara’s face is bright red. I’m about to leap to her rescue, but I hear the sound of her retaliation as I see Molly’s head snap back from the sheer force of it.
“Quit the shit, you bunny boiling little whore!” Kara says as she reaches to grip Molly’s arms to stop her slapping her again.
“Stop this now!” I shout. “I want the truth and I want it right now. If you don’t stop lying, so help me god…it’s a good job I’d never hit a woman.”
I am absolutely seething. The rage is rolling off me in waves and Molly must sense this because she sits back down in her chair and begins crying. She buries her face in her hands and wails loudly.
“I…I…I never meant for all this to happen,” she manages between sobs.
“Then what was supposed to happen, Molly? Why did you do this to me?”
“Because I wanted you to love me as much as I love you.”
“Love? You did this out of love? I think you need to learn the definition of the word. This definitely wasn’t love.”
“I love you, Reid. I just wanted you to feel the same way about me. When I saw how you looked at Kara, I knew you weren’t really with me. We might have been together, but I was only a temporary substitute for the one woman you really wanted. I was jealous.”
“So you thought if we were having a baby, I would come back to you?” I ask incredulously.
Molly starts crying again and I just want to tell her to quit it and pull herself together. She’s the liar, she doesn’t get to be upset. I’m the wronged party, not her.
“How did you find out it was a lie?” she asks quietly.
“I saw you at the store, remember?” Kara asks, “Zoey and I saw you bent over a pram and we saw the bump and the wide strap around your back. I didn’t understand, but a quick check on Google confirmed what I’d seen.”
Kara shoves her phone in Molly’s face and I see the shock register as she sees the photographic evidence of herself caught in a lie.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave,” Kara says in a mocking tone.
“We’re done here, Molly. If you ever come near me again, I will go to the police. Do not contact me again. I don’t want to see your face, or hear your voice. Not for any reason. Am I understood?” I say as I reach for Kara’s hand.
“Yes.”
Her answer was so quiet I barely heard it, but I leave with Kara and don’t look back.
“I’m so sorry, Reid.”
“What for, baby? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
We’re back in my car and on the way to her house. I don’t know what she’s apologising for. She did what she knew to be right.
“I can’t help but be sad that this is how you found out.”
“Isn’t it just good that I found out at all? What do you think would have happened in another couple of months when she didn’t give birth?”
“Well, at least then it wouldn’t be on me. At least I wouldn’t feel this crippling guilt for breaking your heart.”
“Kara, you are my heart. You did the right thing for the man you love. You wouldn’t have been able to live with yourself if you knew and didn’t say anything.”
“I know, it’s just…” She sighs and then goes quiet.
“Nothing, Kara. Think nothing of this. We never have to think about this again. Molly isn’t a part of our lives, and I’m not having a baby with a bunny boiling bitch. I can’t believe you actually said what I was thinking back there. You were amazing. If you feel anything, it should be pride that you fought for the man you love.”
“Thank you,” she whispers as she turns to face me.
“What for?”
“For believing me and not thinking I was the one boiling poor little defenceless bunnies.”
Her lip quirks in a slight smile as I look at her.
“I could never doubt a word you say. Now can we please put tonight behind us? I’m hungry…and not for food,” I playfully growl out the last four words.
The light shines bright in those gorgeous blue-green eyes, the ones I could look into forever.
“In that case, put your foot down and get us home quicker.”
I can’t believe this started with me thinking Kara was dumping me. I’m relieved that wasn’t the case. And I actually feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. This baby was never real. When I thought about having a baby with anyone other than Kara, it hurt my heart. But now? Now I can focus on being with the woman I love, and not having to worry about someone else giving birth to my first child. If I get my way, one day it will be Kara giving me the joy of my first child.