Five Years, One Devastating Lie

o our mornings. I was just placing a cup of coffee on his desk, a sm

e invited to the Christening of Leo Thomas." Our last nam

to the church, hidden in the shadows, and saw him holding a baby, a little boy with his dark ha

. I remembered him refusing to have a baby with me, citing work press

for him. How could I

ogram I had deferred for him. "I' d like to accept the fellows

pte

and was in the shower, the sound of water drumming against glass a familiar rhythm to our mornings. I was just

he words before

to the Christeni

me. Leo Thomas.

on vanished. A flicker, and it was gone.

land. The name was vaguely familiar, a social media influencer whose perfectly c

h. It wasn't just a random email. It was an inv

ch downtown, the time

nothing. To go back to the perfect illusion I had so carefully b

, more insistent part, kne

t of our pristine, minimalist home, the hom

ained-glass windows. I stood in the back, hidden in the

en I s

arp business suits, but in soft, casual clothes. He looked relaxed, hap

milio' s dark hair

and giggled, reaching a tiny h

like you, Daddy," a woman' s vo

aist. She leaned her head on his shoulder, a picture of domestic bliss

a family. A perfe

like I was floating outside my own body. I watched as Emilio kissed Hayden' s forehead

it. The woman, the b

ple who had been to our home for dinner parties. They smiled at the happy couple

there, to scream, to shatter their perfect moment. The fi

doors and back into the noise of the city. The sounds wer

tion from a few months

oice soft. "I think I' m r

ning a hand through his hair. A gesture I

ny is at a critical stage. Just give me another ye

ued me relentlessly in college, the only one who c

top of our architecture program. He was br

lled all-nighters in the studio, his hand gentl

barely stand. He stayed by my hospital bed for thre

room, his voice cracking with a v

red, his forehead pressed against mine.

d in a hospital just like that one.

he became the man everyone wanted to be. I built my own career, but I

time, he had

lieved was reserved only for

im. I stared at his name on the screen

ice was warm, the same lovin

faint sound of a baby crying, then

hing him through the open doors. He was holding

managed to say, my own voice

e meeting," he said smoothly.

out him. A tear finally broke free and slid down my cheek, hot against my cold skin. All tho

I have bee

at, forcing my voice to be stea

s smile faltering for just a second. "I' m still i

N

eo, toddled over and wrapped

the child

ying to shush the boy while keeping his voice low and cal

dead. He had

s cheek and whispering something that made the child gigg

leaving nothing but a hollow, aching void. Y

moving on their own. I didn't call Ayla,

ious, six-month program I had been accepted to but deferred for Emilio.

ship," I said, my voice eerily