As I pulled the blankets up around them, Matthew’s eyes suddenly opened—wide and untain.
“Are you coming back in the morning?” he whispered.
My chest tightened. “Always, sweetheart. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
William rolled over, clutching his stuffed bear. For the first time, he reached out and took my hand.
But that was also when Joshua began to drift away.
At first, it was small things.
He started coming home late
“Tough day at work, Hanna,” he would say, avoiding my eyes.
He would sit with us for dinner, smile at the boys—but before dessert, he would slip away into his office.
I found myself cleaning up alone, wiping sticky fingerprints from the fridge while listening to the faint murmur of his phone calls through the door.
When Matthew spilled his juice and William burst into tears, I was the one on the kitchen floor, whispering, “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ve got you.”
Joshua was always gone—“work emergency,” he’d say—or lost behind the glow of his laptop.
One night, after yet another meltdown and peas scattered across the floor, I finally asked him:
“Josh… are you okay?”
He barely looked up. “Just tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Are you… I mean, are you happy?”
He shut his laptop a little too hard. “Hanna, you know I am. We wanted this, right?”
I nodded.
But something inside me twisted.
Then one afternoon, both boys finally fell asleep at the same time.
I tiptoed down the hallway, desperate for a moment to breathe.
As I passed Joshua’s office, I heard his voice—low, strained.
“I can’t keep lying to her. She thinks I wanted a family with her…”
My hand flew to my mouth.
He was talking about me.
I leaned closer, my heart pounding.
“But I didn’t adopt the boys because of this,” Joshua said, his voice breaking.
Silence followed—then a quiet, painful sob.
I froze.
“I can’t do this, Dr. Samson,” he continued softly. “I can’t watch her figure it out after I’m gone. She deserves more than that. But if I tell her… she’ll fall apart. She gave up her whole life for this. I just… I just wanted to know she wouldn’t be alone.”
My legs went numb.
Joshua was crying openly now.
“How long did you say, Doc?”
A pause.
“A year? That’s all I have left?”
Silence.
Then more sobbing.
I stumbled back, gripping the banister as the world tilted around me.
He had been planning his exit all along.
He had let me quit my job, become a mother, build my entire life around a future he already knew he might not be part of.
He hadn’t trusted me with the truth.
He had decided everything for both of us.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I walked into our bedroom, packed a bag for myself and the twins, and called my sister.
“Can you take us in tonight?” I asked.
My voice didn’t sound like mine.
“I’ll get the guest room ready,” Caroline said immediately.
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