Her Heart's Silent Divorce

on the pregnancy te

my hand, my heart pounding a strange, unsteady rhythm against my ribs.

d fragile bloomed in my che

y on his face. Telling my adoptive brother, Ethan. Maybe this, this baby, would finally make me a real part of the Miller famil

nd Ethan were downstairs, their voices a low rumble from the living roo

nightstand. It was a message fro

umb hovered over the screen be

ryone. Sarah'

shed out o

ra

family, and Liam, years ago without a word. The one whose ghost had haunt

mth in my chest

flat stomach. The joyful announcement I was about to make felt like as

ottom of the staircase, and I stopped on th

hick with an emotion I hadn' t heard from him in year

?" Liam asked. His vo

rt. We have to get her old room ready. It' s been so

ggested, his voice buzzing with exci

hen Ethan spoke again, his tone

caught in

She' ll be fine. She' s always been.

s of her, you know?" Ethan said, a note of casual dismissal in his voi

iority right now. She' s been through so much. She' s family, Ethan. The real famil

eal f

there, frozen, listening to the two most important men in my life discus

family, for a life where I was finally loved and

ment, a decision formed in my

not subject another human being to a life o

t do that

regnancy test was still on the bathroom counter. I picked it up, wra

o our bedroom. He found me sittin

tried to put his arm around my shoulders. "You'

erformance. I saw it so clearly now. His touch felt wrong, like a st

ce was flat, empty. There was no an

ection. "Okay. Well, Ethan told

odd

g her back. It' ll be like old times. T

completely oblivious to the fact that he had just

y silence a wall he cou

said, patting my leg awkwardly

quiet, scared ten-year-old, fresh from a foster home that had left scars on my soul. They told me I was their daughter, that there had

d to fill the

st friend who was always over, had been kind. I fell for that kindness. I thought it wa

s just a stand-in. A place

eal thing was

ve. I wasn' t just getting rid of the baby. I was getting rid of all