Chapter 5

That night I didn't sleep in the master bedroom. I took my suitcases and set up in the guest room at the back of the house.

Around midnight I was still awake. I got up to get water, and as I passed the master bedroom door I heard Vivienne's voice inside.

"I should be the one at Ethan's wedding. I'm his mother."

Her voice had a wet edge, like she was crying.

I stopped moving.

"If you hadn't told me back then that you didn't want to carry, I wouldn't have had to put our embryo inside Josephine. It's too late now."

Richard's voice. Flat with regret. Like he was the one being wronged.

My face was shaking. I didn't know I was already crying.

"Don't worry. Even if we can't tell Ethan the truth publicly, you'll be at the head table at his wedding three days from now. You're going to sit where his mother sits."

Vivienne's voice went soft again.

"Aren't you afraid Josephine is actually going to walk? She signed it."

Richard gave a short, dismissive laugh.

"I broke Josephine in a long time ago. She hasn't worked in forty years. Where is she going to go? She's not leaving. You, at least, have a career. Josephine can sweep a floor. That's about it."

They both laughed.

I sank down onto the hallway runner.

From day one. They'd planned it from day one.

I wasn't just the unpaid housekeeper. I was a gestational carrier — a convenience.

Because Vivienne didn't want to go through pregnancy, I had carried a child that wasn't mine, given birth to him, almost died in the process, and raised him as my own.

And once he was grown, Vivienne would quietly walk in and collect the harvest.

I swallowed every tear. I pressed my hand over the pain in my stomach and went back to the guest room.