Chapter 5 - The Desperate Father
Three weeks passed. The legal machinery moved swift and mercilessly.
Victoria Sterling’s cease-and-desist letter hit Derek like a freight train, forcing him to communicate solely through his court-appointed lawyer—a man who was clearly exhausted by Derek’s endless, frantic demands to "fix things."
The judge granted my motion for exclusive use of our home. Derek was forced to come under police supervision to retrieve his remaining clothes, while I stayed at Clara’s house to avoid seeing his pathetic display. Clara told me later that Derek spent two hours crying on the front porch, begging the police officer to persuade me to talk to him.
Meanwhile, Jessica’s life had completely imploded.
The HR department at their company caught wind of the scandal—specifically how Derek and Jessica had conducted their affair during work hours and used company expense accounts for their fancy dinners in Uptown. Following an internal audit, Jessica was quietly let go from her position. Derek was placed on administrative leave pending a professional conduct review.
Stripped of her job and tossed aside by Derek the moment he realized the babies were his, Jessica did what any vengeful woman would do: she published a scathing, detailed social media post exposing Derek’s lies, complete with screenshots of him begging her to delete their photos so he could "look good for the judge."
The suburban neighborhood that had once whispered behind my back suddenly did an absolute 180-degree turn.
Casseroles began appearing on my doorstep—not from Jessica, but from neighbors who were deeply ashamed of how quickly they had judged me. Apology cards filled my mailbox. Mothers from down the street offered to help me set up the nursery.
One evening, around my twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, I was sitting on my back patio, sipping cold water and feeling the distinct, wonderful sensation of three tiny kicks against my ribs.
The side gate suddenly creaked open.
I sat up fast, grabbing my phone. "Who's there?"
Derek stepped into the soft glow of the patio lights.
He looked terrible. His suit was wrinkled, his eyes were bloodshot and sunken, and he looked like he hadn't slept or shaved in weeks. He was holding a large leather-bound photo album—our wedding album.
"Sarah," he whispered, holding his hands up placatingly. "Please... don't call the police. Just give me five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for. Five minutes."
"Derek, you are violating a legal court order," I said, my finger hovering over the 911 button on my phone. "Leave now."
"I can't leave!" he sobbed, sinking to his knees right on the grass, clutching the wedding album against his chest. "I'm losing everything, Sarah! I lost my job promotion, my friends won't talk to me, my own mother is screaming at me every single day for being an idiot... but none of that matters! What’s killing me is knowing that my three children are growing inside you and I’m not there to hold your hand!"
"You didn't want to hold my hand, Derek," I reminded him, my voice steady and unyielding. "You wanted to drag me into court. You wanted to accuse me of sleeping around. You brought your mistress to my ultrasound room so you could watch me suffer."
"I was stupid! I was jealous! I thought... I thought you cheated!" he cried, crawling a few inches closer on his knees. "The doctor said I was sterile! I reacted out of anger!"
"No, Derek," I corrected him firmly. "You didn't react out of anger. You reacted out of convenience. You were ALREADY having an affair with Jessica long before I took that pregnancy test. The vasectomy and the test were just your easy escape hatch to leave me without feeling guilty. You threw me away the second you thought you had an excuse."
Derek stopped crawling. His jaw trembled as the brutal, unvarnished truth hit him.
He couldn't deny it. He knew it was true. He had been looking for a way out with Jessica, and he had used a mathematical error in a pregnancy timeline to destroy my life without a second thought.
"I will never trust you again, Derek," I said softly, staring into the eyes of the man I used to love. "You proved to me who you really are when life got hard. Now, please, get off my property before I push this button."
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Derek stared at me for a long, agonizing minute. He saw no anger in my eyes—only complete, absolute indifference. And that indifference was far more terrifying to him than any rage could ever be.
He slowly stood up, placed the wedding album gently on the patio table, turned around, and walked out into the dark.
