My Fiancee's Audacious Demand

ghts of the Vegas club. Our joint bachelor/bachelorette party.

nearby table, a champagne flute dangerously tilt

then pointed at me, a

utting through the music. "The mo

ed, confused. I ma

inued, louder, "that he's going to r

de. A cold silence spr

en slid off the ta

t to me. She steadied hi

Mike," she said, h

ut am I lying, Sophia darling? Tell him. Tell y

Her eyes, usually so sharp and condesc

sked. My voic

p breath, smoo

eting my gaze. Her tone was matter-of-f

e at a party a while bac

her, three years I chased h

as if this explained everything. "He'll co-parent. We expect you to proc

process the words. My child

probably live with Julian during the week. F

Just a vast, e

ed back in, but it so

club, leaving the thumping bass

s noise. Sophia was on the phone, her voice low and irritated. I was s

zed. A text

n you grab them and bring them to his penthouse? He'

d me to run errands for her and her lo

rents, had warned me about Julian. About his poss

dripping with disdain for my "lesser" state university education, so unli

her. I wanted

wanted to see. To understand. Maybe it

my keys. I n

nt to his family's money. Minor celebrity fa

entricities, buzzed me up without a

opened directly i

ere th

ispering something that made her laugh, a soft, intimate sound I hadn't heard from her in years

rprised to see

up, but not

ks?" she asked, as if I'd

es glinting. "Took you

Sophia?" I aske

ian is comforting me. I'm pregnant, emotional. You're

oke something. "You tell me you're pregnant with his child, that

ia closer. "It's not like you weren't aware of our bond. We've

settling over me. "You have always been

erything I've put up with? Your family's new money, your lack o

out my family," I

g in front of her. "You'll bore us

like one of his dad's business deals. A li

, Sophia," I said. "This wa

I'm willing to be reasonable. We can still get married.

offer me table scraps fro

id. "No co

?" she asked, her ey

ld her, the words tasting like ash. "

"You can't do that.

said, and tu

You're not going anywher

ok hi

"You'll regret this, Mik

ur infidelity and pregnancy with another man

ting Sophia's arm. "He's still in love w

a flicker of something – t

he said softly. "You're t

nst the glittering Vegas skyline,

sip. "Get out, Mike. And don

of their soft laughter f