I never realized he was playing me all along.
く
From spring to winter, ten months, enough for
Shelly to get pregnant and give birth.
He was only nice to me because he wanted
me to slave away for his kid, figuring I was a
defenseless orphan who had no one to stand
up for me.
Seeing I wasn’t saying anything, Shane
thought he’d won.
“You don’t even have to go through
childbirth! You get a free kid! Go home and
borrow money for formula! The baby’s crying,
aren’t you worried?”
How twisted was that?
He and Shelly were living together, pretending
く
to be siblings.
They had a baby they didn’t want, scared of
ruining their reputations, but then blamed me
for not caring about their kid.
“The baby’s own parents don’t want him, why
should I be the one?”
I said through clenched teeth, but he didn’t
hear a word.
He thought it was just anger.
He figured I’d be crawling back to him,
begging for forgiveness.
Well, as the favorite, he always got his way.
I wasn’t going to waste my breath.
Let him spend his life running around to
doctors with his brain–damaged kid and
Shelly.
The papers for moving back to the city would
be coming out any day now.
Then no one would find me, Claire, and no
one could use me again.
The day they announced who could move
back to the city, I went to the bulletin board
early.
I couldn’t find my name.
People were whispering, shooting me nasty
looks.
The village chief called me into his office,
saying I was being denied because of my
“personal conduct” and that I needed to think
about my actions, and the village would
decide what to do with me.
I had done everything right this time! Why
was this still happening?
I staggered home, and someone dumped a
bucket of dirty water on me.
“Don’t walk in front of my house, you filthy
tramp!”
“Yeah! Having a baby out of wedlock and
then abandoning it!
“Thank God the kind Shane and Shelly found
the baby, or he’d be dead!”
This kind of thing wasn’t unusual in the
countryside.
Some women slept with officials to get food,
to work less, or to move back to the city,
ruining families.
Some were tricked or assaulted, but no one
cared.
If they got pregnant, they wrapped their
bellies tight and wore baggy clothes.
If they couldn’t get an abortion, they had the
baby and tried to give it away, or killed it.
The villagers looked at me the same way they
looked at those women.
L
They wanted to tie me up and parade me
through the streets.
I explained, panicked.
“No, I didn’t! The baby’s not mine!”
But they wouldn’t believe me, getting angrier.
–
“Liar! That night you asked the neighbor to
take you to the hospital! You said your
stomach hurt, but you were going to see the
baby!”
“He couldn’t see in the dark, but he heard you
arguing with a man about a baby!”
“She’s always been after Shane! And when he
said no, she went after other men. Someone
like that should be thrown in jail!”
There was no way out of this.
I stumbled back, and fell into someone’s
arms.
Turning around, I saw a face that made my
blood run cold.
Shane.
He pushed the wailing baby into my arms.
“I’m sure Claire was tricked. If she turns her
life around and raises this baby, you should
forgive her.”
Shane pretended to comfort me.
He wanted me to take the blame for Shelly’s
out–of–wedlock baby, and waste my life as
the mother of their brain–damaged kid.
Like hell.
I wasn’t going to let him win!
When I met Shane’s gaze, the smug
confidence in his eyes flickered with panic.
