[Addison]

My little boy looks even smaller in a hospital bed with an IV attached to his arm.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Stone, but your son’s condition is serious. He is suffering from an intense allergic reaction,” the Doctor’s face is grim. “If he had gotten here an hour sooner, we could have prevented the severe dehydration. We were lucky this time that the reaction wasn’t worse.”

“Worse?” My voice warbles as Michael looks away, unable to my gaze. “How much worse?”

“If he had developed anaphylaxis, he’d be dead,” the doctor’s tone. “You’re lucky his heart didn’t stop on the way here. As it is, he’ll need to remain in the hospital for 24 hours for observation.”

Our son could have died, all because my husband couldn’t bear to disappoint his ex-girlfriend.

Michael volunteers to pay the bill and grab the new prescription for an emergency epi-pen. “I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he kisses the top of my head before rushing out of the room as if the sight of our sick son could chase him down the hall.

Grasping the frayed edges of my sweater, I twist and pull as I sit, unable to take my eyes off of my child for a minute. The last time I let him out of my sight, he ended up here. Exhausted, I fall asleep, my face resting on the foot of his bed.

“You would think that a mother would know better,” my mother-in-law, Lauren’s screeching voice snaps me awake as she stands, shouting, from just inside the doorway. “You do know they make gluten-free cakes, right? And dairy-free ice cream.”

“Of course, I do,” I scowl, my hackles raised as she once again assumes her perfect son had nothing to do with our current situation. “I didn’t feed him gluten, or dairy, that was your son, Michael, and …”

“Mommy,” Jayson rolls over towards me, his face drawn with exhaustion and fear.

Lauren uses her hip to block my path as I stand, making it to Jayson’s side before he’s fully awake. “Jayson my love, Grandma is here. Tell me, how did you get so sick?”

“Grandma,” Jayson whispers as she leans in to kiss his cheek. He looks over my shoulder before leaning into his grandmother and saying very softly, as if afraid I might hear, “Mommy gave me cake. Also strawberry ice cream.”

His words squeezed my heart like a vice and I stumble forward in shock as a tear rolls down my cheek. “Jayson, how could you say that? I’d never feed you a cake with gluten!”

“Are you calling my grandson, your son, a liar?” Lauren scoffs as she turns to me, her face red with fury. “He’s six. He’s an innocent child and you tried to kill him”

“Go away!” Jayson sits up, his cheeks puffed out as he glares at me through his long, blond eyelashes. “I want Mama Evelyn! She’s a better mommy than you! She loves me!”

“I love you, Jayson. Listen…”

My son pokes his fingers in his ears ignoring me as Michael opens the door. “What is this?”

“Tell your mother the truth!” I demand. “You and Evelyn did this and now our son is calling me a villain.”

Laura scoffs behind me, outraged. “I never realized what vile woman you are to bring Evelyn into this. She is such an elegant, sweet, and caring woman. She’s a teacher, a natural mother. When I’ve seen her with Jayson she’s always been the sweetest most doting…”

I’m not doing this here, not in front of my son. Pushing my husband out the door, I pull him into the hallway.

“How could you?” I hiss, my whole body shaking with anger. “You took our son to visit your mother, with Evelyn? How long, Michael?”

He places his hands on my arms and I shake it off, my anger burning. Taking several deep breaths I try to calm my breathing as I listen to my husband swear that he isn’t having an affair with his ex, that he isn’t making me look bad intentionally so that he won’t look like a villain.

“Don’t tell my mom,” he begs. “You know the truth, but I don’t want her to hate Evelyn for a simple mistake.”

In the background, I can hear my son screaming. Worried, I walk inside to see my mother-in-law trying to comfort him while he throws a fit loud enough to wake the dead.

Rushing forward, I try to comfort him, but he pushes me away, his little hand hitting my cheek. “I hate you! I want Mama Evelyn! I want Mama Evelyn! I wish you were gone!”

“Fine,” my heart sinks as I listen to my son curse me. He doesn’t want me, he wants her. “I’ll go if that’s what you really want. Evelyn can take care of you.”

I wait until I’m out of the room until I let the tears fall freely. As the elevator opens, an arm grabs my shoulder and pulls me back. “Wait, Addy!”

Michael’s chest is heaving as he struggles to regain his breath. “Wait! I didn’t tell him to say any of that I didn’t…”

“He didn’t come up with these ideas on his own, Michael. Children listen and watch the adults around them. His anger is because of you and Evelyn.”

Turning away, I step into the elevator. “Don’t follow me, Michael.”

As the elevator descends, the last 6 years of my life play in my mind. I graduated top in my class at law school and was offered jobs at the most prestigious law firms, but I set it aside to build my family–a family I thought I had with Michael and Jayson. They have been my whole universe.

And never once have I ever regretted giving them that time. It has been precious to me. I’ve always wanted to be a mother, to have a family of my own. But that family that I’ve invested so much love and time into wants nothing to do with me.

But to them, my sacrifices have been for nothing. Even my son, the center of my world, wants me to go away.

Stepping out onto the street, I wipe my eyes, taking a deep breath letting the sunlight hit my face.

And then I see her. A little girl with long brown pigtails standing in the middle of the road, her eyes staring off into space, not aware of the car only feet away from her.

Rushing out into the street, I place my body between the child and the car, wrapping myself around her as I pull us both onto the sidewalk just before the car slams into us both.

“Oh my God, are you okay,” the little girl blinks up at me, her large hazel eyes wide as she watches the car drive away. “Where is your mommy and daddy.”

Her only response is to hold onto me tightly, wrapping her arms around my neck.

Lifting her carefully I jump as an engine hums behind me, parking at the curb and stopping only a few feet away. When the car door opens, I find myself looking at one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen.

And he is looking straight back at me.