“Of course you didn’t know. There was no way you could.”
“Is that why your ex called?”
“He used her birthday as an excuse to call, but his real motive was all about him and making himself feel better.”
“Feel better about what?” The agony on Leighton’s face is genuine. And sobering. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“I think for the first time in my life, I want to talk about it. I want to tell someone about the truly horrific thing that he did to me. I think it’s the best way for me to heal and move on.”
She moves to the other side of the bed, making room for me. I scoot closer and get into a more comfortable position while still facing her. I like to look at her face when she talks.
“I found out that Sadie was stillborn and my doctor admitted me to the hospital later that day. I was too far along in my pregnancy for a D and C. The only way to deliver her was to induce labor.”
“They gave you medicine to make you have contractions at five months?”
“Yes, but my body wasn’t ready for her to come, so it was a very long process. It took more than a day. Brad was in and out the whole time, sometimes leaving me there by myself for hours.”
“Your parents weren’t there with you?”
“My dad doesn’t fly so they were driving and hadn’t made it in yet.”
Leighton blinks rapidly and looks up toward the ceiling. “Long story, short: I was alone when Sadie was born. Only the doctor and nurses were with me.”
What an asshole. “Where was Brad?”
“He left me there while I was giving birth… to be with another woman.”
The fucker couldn’t even stop cheating while she was giving birth? “That’s so fucking bad that I don’t even know what to say about it.”
“I’ve never told anyone that he did that to me. I was too ashamed… humiliated… devastated to tell anyone the truth.”
“The shame isn’t on you.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t back then. I blamed myself for every problem in our marriage. I wasn’t pretty enough. I wasn’t skinny enough. I wasn’t a good enough wife. It took me a long time to figure out that it didn’t matter who or what I was. Brad was a selfish, cheating asshole. It’s who he is as a person, and there was nothing I could have done differently to change that.”
“How did you end up married to such a rotten motherfucker?”
“I didn’t see it before we married, and it was too late by the time that I figured it out.”
“You’re divorced. Why is he still bothering you?”
“Not sure, but I put an end to it. He won’t be calling me anymore; I’m done, and he finally understands that.”
“Good. I don’t want him bothering you.” But if he does, I have my own ways of making him stop.
“You’re sweet.”
“Only to you and Scarlett.”
“Andyour momandyour grandmotherandyour sisterandyour friends.”
I chuckle. “Don’t let that get out. I have an image to maintain.”
“Oh, okay,” she whispers. “I’ll keep it on the down low.”
I point to the pink and white box on her bed. “New shoes?”
She shakes her head. “No.”