Chapter 1

The key turned in the lock, a sound I hadn' t heard in two years.

I put down my coffee, my heart jumping a little.

Jessica.

She was supposed to be on an overseas work assignment, a big career move for her.

The door opened, and there she was.

But she wasn' t alone.

She pushed a double stroller into our Seattle living room.

In it, two babies, small and new.

"Michael," she said, her voice cool, like she was announcing the weather. "Meet Leo and Lily."

I just stared. My brain felt like it stopped.

"They're mine," she continued, unstrapping one. "And Ethan's."

Ethan. Her high school sweetheart. The one she always said was just a friend she was "helping" because he was sick.

"IVF," she said, as if that explained everything. "Ethan was terminally ill. I wanted to give him a legacy."

She looked at me then, a hard look. "There was no physical affair."

My ears were ringing. Ten years we' d been married. Ten years, no children.

She' d told me her heart condition made pregnancy too dangerous. I believed her. I mourned the family we couldn't have, but I accepted it, for her.

"I need you to quit your job," Jessica said, handing me a baby. It felt alien in my arms. "They need a stay-at-home dad. My work is too important right now."

My demanding tech job. The one that paid for this house, for her "work assignments."

The baby in my arms gurgled.

My world tilted.

She expected me to raise another man' s children.

Children she had while telling me we couldn' t have any.

"Jessica," I started, my voice hoarse. "Your heart..."

"Oh, that," she waved a dismissive hand. "My doctor said it was manageable with care. IVF was perfectly safe."

Manageable. Safe.

For ten years, it was supposedly a death sentence.

The casualness of her confession hit me harder than the sight of the twins.

She' d lied about everything.

"We need to make this work, Michael," she said, her tone final. "For the children."

She didn't look at me. She was busy with the other baby.

Like I was just a piece of furniture she was rearranging.