Chapter 6 - THE FIRST MORNING WITHOUT HIM
The first morning of my new life was strangely peaceful.
I woke up in a hospital room.
Emily was sleeping beside me.
Sunlight came through the window.
No arguing.
No criticism.
No one telling me I was too emotional.
No one making me feel like I was a problem.
Just silence.
Healthy silence.
Rachel walked in carrying coffee.
“Good morning, mom.”
I smiled.
“Mom.”
The word felt strange.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Real.
She handed me the coffee.
“You know he’s looking for you.”
I looked down at Emily.
“I figured.”
“He called me.”
“What did he say?”
Rachel sat down.
“He asked where you were.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course he did.”
“Megan…”
“No, it’s fine.”
I touched Emily’s tiny hand.
“He didn’t ask if I was okay.”
Rachel didn’t answer.
Because she knew.
“He didn’t ask if the baby was okay.”
Still silence.
“He only asked where we were.”
That was the difference.
Derek wanted information.
He wanted control.
But he didn’t know how to love something he couldn’t control.
Rachel sighed.
“What happens now?”
I looked around the hospital room.
I didn’t know.
For the first time in years, I didn’t have a plan created around Derek.
I only had a plan for me.
And Emily.
“I don’t know.”
That answer scared me.
But it also felt honest.
My phone buzzed.
A message.
From Derek.
I looked at the screen.
Megan.
Please.
Just tell me where my daughter is.
I stared at those words.
Then another message came.
I know I messed up.
Another.
I need to see her.
I felt something unexpected.
Not anger.
Not sadness.
Nothing.
That scared me more.
Because I realized something.
The man who once controlled every emotion I had…
could no longer reach me.
I put the phone down.
Rachel watched me.
“You’re not answering?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Why?”
I looked at my daughter.
Because the old Megan would have answered.
The old Megan would have explained.
The old Megan would have given him another chance.
But that woman was gone.
“I spent years trying to make him understand my pain.”
I smiled softly.
“Now he gets to understand my silence.”
At that exact moment…
my phone rang again.
But this time, it wasn’t Derek.
It was a number I didn’t recognize.
I answered.
A woman’s voice spoke.
“Is this Megan Carter?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause.
Then she said:
“My name is Laura. I work with Derek.”
My stomach tightened.
“Okay…”
“I think you need to know something about your husband.”
I looked at Rachel.
She immediately noticed my expression.
The woman continued:
“There are things Derek never told you.”
I sat up straighter.
“What things?”
Her voice became quieter.
“Things that happened before you married him.”
And suddenly…
May you like
I realized leaving Derek was only the beginning.
Because maybe I didn’t know my husband at all.
