Chapter 20: The moment David never liked Emily

The room's silence was oppressive, full of words left unspoken. Emily stood stiff, arms folded tightly across her chest, her nails digging into her skin as though the discomfort could hold her. David perched on the edge of the sofa opposite her, his gaze maddeningly cool, as if he'd just recommended something as simple as replacing the curtains.

Still, he hadn't.

He'd barely glared her in the eye, the woman he had promised to marry, and said, **"Maybe Jane can give me a kid**."

Each syllable cut further into her heart as the words echoed in her head.

Emily released a pointed, skeptical chuckle. "You don't have shame at all, don't you?"

David sighed deeply and massaged his temple. "Emily, don't start."

"Handle all of it?" she shouts back. "You're here arguing that maybe your *mistress*—the lady you've been creeping around like a sad little coward—should have your daughter; I shouldn't *begin*?"

David moved back, clearly running on little patience. I am simply keeping it real.

Emily's breathing stopped in her throat. Originally one who prizes accuracy and fairness. uncompromising

Her fingers shaking, she stepped nearer. Let me therefore understand what's going on here. I'm not able to carry your child either, I—your *wife*—am having difficulties getting pregnant, so instead of being beside me, instead of being a decent person and really supporting me through this grief, you think your side girl should carry your baby?

It took David not long to respond. He simply gazed at her, his face inscrutable. "Emily, I want a family."

She snorted out a hostile laugh. "Oh, and I don't? You believe I don't get up every day hoping for a miracle? You believe I don't, some nights, weep feeling like I've missed as a woman, as a wife? But instead of supporting me, you—." She stopped herself, head shaking. "God, you make me sick."

David's jaw clenched. "It's not about replacing you."

Emily's eyes were on fire with rage. "That's absolutely what it is! You wouldn't even *think* about this! You wouldn't have ever visited Jane if it *wasn't* about replacing me!"

His patience on edge, he breathed out sharply. Emily, consult with yourself. You're behaving as if I proposed some crazy idea. It's a reasonable answer:

She pounded the coffee table until the glasses it contained shook loosely. "Logical? You believe it sane to ask your mistress to have your child?"

David ran a hand through his hair, irritation blazing from his eyes. " I'm not counting on you to know."

Emily yawned at him. "You don't expect me to—" She exhaled sharply and moved back as if she could not bear to be around him. "You are unimaginable."

Standing suddenly, David's great height shrinks the space. Your emotions consume you so much that you are unable to even notice the grand scheme of things. I'm providing a means for us to have a family, Emily.

She raised her head and her look shot him with unadulterated rage. "*We* David, this is not about *us.* This is about *you!* You and your selfless, repugnant want!"

His fists curled tight. "'Unwind this,' the instruction reads."

Emily shook her head, her voice barely controlled with fury. "I don't have to turn anything around. The reality is bad enough already."

David's nose flared. "Then what - you'd prefer us just keep waiting? Hope for something that might not ever happen?"

Her eyes' corners ached, but she would not let tears run down. "Yes," she said strongly. Her voice was harsh.(csv) "Because *that's* what love is, David. Near the individual you promised forever to, it stands even when things are challenging. It's choosing them repeatedly. But you surrendered at the first sign of hardship."

he scoffed. "That is not just."

Emily's hands clenched into fists as she gasped. "You want to talk about fair? Let's talk about how *I* have spent years trying, suffering through every test, every disappointment, while you—" Her voice cracked with anger. "Look, you've been running around with another woman behind my back! And now you want to let *her* do the one thing I can't into our marriage? nonsense?"

David's gaze shifted. "I had not intended this, Emily."

She burst out a cold, little laugh. "Oh, seriously? You didn't intend to humiliate me? Tear my heart out and stomp on it like it meant nothing?"

His countenance became tough. I was looking for a path ahead.

Emily shook her head. Not at all. You sought an *escape.*

They gazed at one other, years of love, suffering, and betrayal knotted into something unrecognizable in the air between them.

David's voice softer now but no less brutal, broke the silence first. "Maybe you need to consider this with an unprejudiced mind before you start slinging charges."

Emily is amazed to find her mouth splitting. "Think about it? Given enough time, I would actually agree with this?"

His quiet voice was everything she had to know.

Her lips let out a sharp, acrid laugh. "You are more delusional than I expected."

David breathed out through his nose; his leniency was nearly non-existent. This was not to get a fight started, Emily, that I came to you with.

Her eyes flickered. Then you shouldn't have commenced one either.

He sighed, let run down his face. I'm not going to keep fighting with you on this.

Emily's fingers shook at her sides. Naturally, you are not. You arrived already having come to your decision, right?

David uttered nothing at all.

Laughing breathlessly, she shook her head. "You *picked* her already. The moment you let this thought form in your mind, you chose *her,* not me."

His face flicked something, but it vanished too quickly to identify it.

Emily inhaled deeply, her hand over her chest trying to suppress the intense pain there. "Anymore you don't love me, right?"

Her eyes met David's, and first time that night he paused.

Emily's breath stopped. And in that quietness, in that pulse of uncertainty, she knew her solution.

Her chest felt cold and hollow here. She murmured, "I see."

Though David started his mouth, she shut him down.

"None," she replied cattily. "I do not want to hear it. I have had enough."

She backed away, as if she were physically withdrawing from the ruin of their marriage. Years of loving you, David, I spent. *Years.* All I ever wanted, though, was for you to love me back the same way. She laughed low. "But I was foolish, wasn't I? You never could have loved me the way I truly required."

David's jaw clenched. "Emily--"

She cut him off, "No. Whatever you were about to say, just don't. You have already caused enough damage."

She turned away, and David remained there staring at her, her world settling in the space like a hurricane just passed—leaving nothing but destruction in its path.

Emily gulped hard, her whole body quaking with grief, outrage, and revulsion. Still, she resisted letting herself shatter, resisted to let this guy—a ruthless, selfish alibi of a husband—see even the slightest inclination of frailty.

She breathed deeply, her voice rough with feeling. "Years trying to be enough for you, David. *Years* tearing myself apart in attempt to fit into the wife you desired. But was it enough, when everything I ever did was less than nothing?"

David had his arms crossed and head empty as he leaned against the sofa. Certainly not.

Emily gasped sharply, her stomach turning at the sheer frigidity of his words. She was expecting defensiveness, excuses, perhaps even a pathetic effort at an apology—but this? This was *contempt.*

She laughed sarcastically and shook her head. Wow. none of it helps me. None of them would change nature.

Looking at her like she were the one being unreasonable, David sighed. From early on, Emily, I told you I want a baby. This is not changing. And I have to think about my choices—if you can't offer one, as well.

Emily's hands were under nails. "Your *options*? You imply your *mistress.*"

David shrugged, straightforward. "Call it what you want."

Emily blinked, amazed. "You really don't care, do not you?"

David looked straight, unfeeling. "I will have a future; a family is important to me. I don't care about begging for something that may never happen for the rest of my life."

Emily released a gasping laugh of surprise. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

David's lips curled into almost a sneer. Is that the best you've got?

Emily snapped something inside her.

Her voice trembling with anger, she moved a stride nearer. "You are disgusting." You're a disgrace of a guy. Worse yet is that you really believe you are *justified.* You think you are *right.*

David remained calm in his response. "I *am* right."

Emily's jaws closed so forcefully it pained. "you're astounding."

David once more shook his shoulders. You may weep over it, yell about it, throw a hissy fit all you might. It does not alter the reality.

Emily laughed sharply, pure poison oozing from every word. Oh, let us discuss the facts, David! You are a liar. "Fact: You are a cheat. Fact: You're a soulless, selfish, cheating guy. And here's another fact—your use of Jane's name like she was some sort of *solution* to our problems lost me at once you opened your mouth."

David grunted and flicked his eyes. "You're being overly dramatic yet *again.*"

Emily squeezed her nails almost cut her flesh so tightly she now could have been. "You are *unreal.*"

With a degree of indifference that set her blood boiling, David turned his head some. You are really weary, Emily. Do you know that?

Emily took a deep inhalation, stiffening her body. "Oh, I'm overreacting? *Me*?"

David slowly nodded in agreement. Certainly. You are. Always so sensitive, always making every little thing into a conflict.

Emily blinked many times, incredulity drenching her. "You are truly unbelievable. You sit here telling your *wife* you want another girl to have your child, and then I'm overreacting when I respond like a *normal* human."

David shook his head and shrugged. "I mean, yeah, You cannot change anything like this. You may cry, scream, break stuff—whatever soothes you. But at last Emily, *this is what I want.*"

Breath tight, Emily stared at him. "And what I want does not matter?"

David sighed and regarded her as a stubborn child who would not pay attention. "What you want *isn't possible.*"

Her muscles stiffened.

David went on, calmly irritatingly. Time permits me quietly. I sat still. I hoped. I But how much longer am I expected to put my life on hold for something that might never happen?

Emily felt her nails dig deeper into her skin. "So instead of remaining by me, you went to somebody different?"

David didn't even wink. I acted as I had to.

Emily cut a sharp, sarcastic scream. "Oh, is that what we are calling adultery now? *Doing what you had to do*?"

David breathed through his nose. "You behave like I just woke up one day and chose to cheat."

Emily's hands balled into fists. "You did. You chose to send me into disarray. You *selected* to climb into another woman's bed. You *chose* to throw our wedding in the trash. And now you have the nerve to sit here and act like you're the *victim?*."

David rose at last, his face perplexingly stony and his height over hers. "I never said I was the victim. Still, I will not let you cast me the villain either here sitting around."

Emily laughed silently, raging. "You are the worst kind of man, David! You are the villain. The type who deceives, steals, then expects his wife to *understand* why he did it."

David turned his head, his lips curling in a way that turned her stomach. "I don't require you to grasp. I simply need you to accept it."

Something black and acrid turning in Emily's stomach as she took a deep breath. "I would never accept this."

David never let his gaze waver. If then you have a problem, not I do.

Breathing fast, Emily stared at him, her whole existence crumbling around. This was it. The instant she truly understood who he actually was. His eyes showed no love, no remorse, no guilt left.

Just a man who had made his selection, and it irrevocable.