“I want to see him, Sam. I want to meet your son properly, not as a stranger in a grocery store parking lot, but as someone who might be part of his life.”
Sam’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you sure? This isn’t what you signed up for when we started dating. Leo comes with complications, and an ex who’s going to be part of our lives whether we want her to be or not.”
“Sam, I’m not upset that Leo exists,” I said carefully. “I know you had sex before me.” A small laugh escaped despite everything. “What hurt was being shut out, being lied to.” I squeezed his hand. “Leo being your son doesn’t change how I feel about you. But the secrets? Those almost destroyed us.”
“I know. God, I know.” He looked at me with such raw hope it made my chest ache. “So when you say you want to see him…”
“I want to start figuring out what our family looks like - with Leo in it. Nothing about love is what you sign up for,” I continued. “You don’t get to choose the circumstances. You just get to choose how you respond to them.”
Like emergency surgery - you couldn’t control what came through the door, only how skillfully you responded to save what mattered most.
“And how do you want to respond?”
I looked at the engagement ring sparkling on our kitchen table, at the man I’d loved for two years, at the future I’d almost run away from because I’d been too scared to ask Sam what was going on. “Sam,” I said quietly, “there’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you weeks ago.”
He tensed slightly, probably wondering what other crisis might be coming. “What is it?”
“I knew about the ring.” The words came out in a rush. “Three weeks before my birthday, I found the receipt. I saw iton your desk when I was looking for the Morrison’s vaccination records.”
Sam’s face went white. “Chloe–”
“I was so happy,” I continued, needing to get it all out. “And then later, I overheard you talking to Jack at the bar about how you were going to propose on my birthday.”
“Oh God.” Sam’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I spent three weeks planning our wedding, Sam. I was so sure, so ready. I even called my mom to tell her you were going to propose.” My voice broke slightly. “And then at the restaurant, when you seemed so stressed, I thought it was just proposal nerves. When you excused yourself to make that phone call, I thought maybe you were calling someone about a surprise.”
Sam was staring at me with growing horror as he began to understand.
“But then I went to find you because you’d been gone so long, and I heard you on the phone with Jack. You said you couldn’t do it. You said you couldn’t marry me.”
“Chloe, no–”
“So when Jenna came to the clinic and told me you were choosing Leo and moving out, and then Jimmy called,” I said, tears starting to fall. “It just… it confirmed what I’d already heard from your own mouth.”
Sam’s face went completely white. “You’ve been carrying this for weeks?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “You thought I didn’t want to marry you this whole time?”
“I thought you’d changed your mind. When Jenna said you were moving out to be with them, it made perfect sense. Of course, you would choose your son.”
Sam stood up abruptly, walking to the window with his back to me. His shoulders were shaking. When he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. “I bought that ring months before your birthday. I had it custom-made because nothing in the store wasgood enough for you. I carried it with me for weeks, waiting for the perfect moment, before I decided to propose on your birthday.” He turned back to me, and there were tears streaming down his face. “You found the receipt and spent weeks excited, planning our wedding in your head, and then I…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. He just stood there, looking completely destroyed. “You didn’t hear the rest,” he said eventually,” he said eventually. “I’d just found out I might have a son. The ring was in my pocket, and all I could think was that I couldn’t propose while my entire life was imploding.” Sam’s voice broke completely. “I didn’t explain any of that to Jack. I just said I couldn’t do it. And you heard that and thought…” He stopped, pressing his palms against his eyes. “You spent all these weeks thinking I’d changed my mind about wanting to marry you.”
“Yes, I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
“God, Chloe.” Sam sank back into his chair like his legs wouldn’t hold him anymore. “I have never, not for one single second, not wanted you. Even when I was panicking about Leo, even when I was lying and making terrible decisions, there was never a moment when I didn’t want to marry you.” He looked at me with such raw anguish it made my chest ache. “You were so excited about the ring. You were planning our wedding. And then I ruined it all.”
“I’m so sorry.” When he looked up, his face was wet with tears. “I’m so sorry I let you think for even a second that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m so sorry I ruined your birthday, your excitement about our future. I’m sorry I took what should have been the best weeks of our lives and turned them into this.”
“I’m sorry too,” I said, my own tears falling now. “You tried to talk to me, didn’t you? Multiple times. And I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I kept putting you off. I told you we’dtalk later, that I needed sleep first.” I wiped my eyes. “If I’d just listened when you were ready to tell me, none of this would have happened. Jenna wouldn’t have had the chance to manipulate me because I would have already known the truth.”
Sam reached for my hand. “Chloe, no. You were dealing with a traumatic emergency. You weren’t in any state to have this conversation, and I knew that.” His voice was firm. “None of what happened is your fault. If I’d told you about Leo the moment I found out - before the cattle, before the exhaustion, before everything - there wouldn’t have been anything for you to mishear or misunderstand. Jenna wouldn’t have had anything to manipulate.”
“But I should have—”
“You should have been able to trust your partner to be honest with you,” he said gently. “That’s what you should have been able to expect. I’m the one who broke that trust. Not you.” He squeezed my hand. “You were exhausted from saving lives. I was lying. Those things aren’t equivalent.”
I looked at him, seeing the certainty in his eyes. “I still ran instead of giving you the chance to explain.”
