Nathaniel, cheating on me with mymother? I could hardly see straight, I was so furious. My heart was in shreds; my spirit, shattered.
I never should have trusted him.
Bursting back up through the door to the kitchen, my first sight was my sisters, startled to see me arrive so distraught.
“What’s wrong?” Larissa asked, concerned.
Melinda’s eyes went wide. “Amelia?”
My dad rushed into the room. “Kiddo, is everything all right? I heard glass breaking–” He stopped, then stepped close to me, asking gently, “Are you OK?”
They had no idea what had just happened. How could I explain to them that what I saw had just ruined my life? Not to mention theirs?
“No,” I sobbed. “No, I’m not OK. I saw Nathaniel”–the tears made it hard to speak clearly– “and Mom” –I was bawling, barely able to get it out– “Kissing.”
My sisters both gasped. Larissa’s jaw dropped. Melinda dropped the mug she was drying, a look of horror coming over her face and the mug’s shards forgotten.
Just then, Nathaniel emerged from the door to the stairwell, his collar askew and his pants covered in red wine stains, lips smeared with a faint pink from my mother’s lipstick.
“Amelia, wait–” he started to speak, but I wouldn’t let him talk his way out of this.
“It’s true. My own mother, kissing my fiancé. The father of my unborn child.” The tears came hardest then after saying it aloud, in front of him. I was shaking by then, with raw fury and heartbreak, and disappointment for my baby.
My father looked like he had just been punched in the gut. His face went pale, and he stumbled back as if someone had shoved him.
Larissa looked like she wanted to kill someone. “How could you do this?” she demanded, just as my mother walked out of the open doorway and into the kitchen.
Nathaniel lunged away from her, still trying to get my attention. “Amelia, please–”
“Why would you cheat on Dad?” Melinda cried, devastated at the implications for my parents’ marriage. “Why would you do this to Amelia?”
My Dad took a step toward Nathaniel, his anger simmering, his voice low and menacing. “Get out of this house,” he said quietly, then shot my mother a bitter glare. “Both of you.”
“David,” Nathaniel said, hands in the air, “let me explain. Please, you don’t understand, I didn’t–”
“Get out!” My dad wasn’t quiet anymore. “Get out, get out!” He was shouting, pointing to the door, his face red with rage. I had only seen my father that furious once before, and it was all too recently. I never thought I would witness him like that again.
Nathaniel shot me a woeful look, his forehead creased, pleading. “Amelia, please. Come home with me, I’m begging you. I’ll explain everything. Let’s just go, OK?”
I couldn’t think straight. My thoughts blurred into each other, and my emotions overwhelmed me. I stepped over to my father, seeking comfort and safety, and he put his arms around me, holding me tight.
“No,” I said firmly. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Ever again.”
It hurt me to say those words to the man I loved–the man who I thought loved me. My body felt weak and numb from shock, from sadness, from knowing that I was bringing a baby into a world where this could happen.
Afamilywhere this could happen.
Nathaniel’s face crumpled, and his eyes flitted between my father and me while he stood, chest heaving, wanting to speak. Yet he didn’t say another word.
I watched him walk out of the house, dejected and silent, shutting the door behind him.
That was it. The end of Nathaniel and me. My mind went numb, unable to process all that had just occurred, and I felt myself shutting down, closing myself off to the people I loved most.
My mother started yelling, throwing a fit, spouting incoherent nonsense that I couldn’t stand to listen to for a second longer. I pulled away from my father’s embrace and left my sisters and my parents arguing in the kitchen. Running upstairs, I fled to my childhood room where I sobbed into the pillow.
Chapter 42
Nathaniel