She adjusted Joshua’s blanket.
“What Jonathan did was unforgivable,” Nurse Patricia said. “But it doesn’t own this day. All Joshua knows is that you’re his home.”
She checked my line, then gave me space.
Thomas returned a minute later with his phone in his hand.
“The vow renewal was my idea,” he said. “I paid most of the deposits, but I won’t decide this for you.”
“Permission to call the person conducting it. He should hear the truth from us.”
The ceremony was six weeks away, with Joshua’s christening the next morning. Invitations had already gone out.
Jonathan was still arguing in the hallway.
“Call,” I said. “Tell him there’ll be no vow renewal.”
Thomas nodded and stepped outside.
Five minutes later, Thomas opened the door and looked at me.
I nodded.
Thomas stepped back into the hallway and held out the phone.
“Take it.”
Jonathan glanced at the screen. “Who is this?”
His expression changed the moment he heard the voice.
Thomas stayed between him and my door.
Jonathan listened, then lowered his voice.
“The ceremony is between me and my wife.”
The reply carried through the partly open doorway.
“A vow isn’t decoration, Jonathan. You don’t repeat one after breaking it.”
I held his gaze until Nurse Patricia closed the door.
Later that evening, after Jonathan and Mary had left, I opened the Notes app on my phone and typed three lines.
Protect Joshua. Protect my recovery. Stop protecting Jonathan.
The next morning, Nurse Patricia came in after checking the hallway.
“Mary’s asking to see you,” she said. “I can send her away.”
I adjusted Joshua against my chest.
“Give her five minutes.”
Mary entered alone and stopped near the door.
“Jonathan told me your marriage was over.”
“Then it wasn’t over, Mary.”
She looked down.
“I believed what made staying easier.”
For once, someone had answered me honestly.
“He also promised we’d move into a larger house after Joshua was born,” Mary said.
“He said he needed time to separate properly. He mentioned Joshua’s christening, but nothing else.”
“He didn’t mention our vow renewal the day before?”
Mary’s face emptied.
“What vow renewal?”
“We were supposed to repeat our vows on Saturday. Joshua’s christening was Sunday.”
“He planned to stand beside me and repeat his vows while you were carrying his child, Mary. That’s… who Jonathan has become.”
Her hand moved to her stomach.
