Chapter 3 - What Nicole Was Really Afraid Of
Nicole waited until Celia's car disappeared down the street.
Then she returned to the kitchen.
The pregnancy test box was still on the counter.
Andre had left the receipt beside it.
Nicole picked up the paper.
She remembered standing at the pharmacy the previous afternoon, staring at the shelves.
She had been twelve days late.
For most women, that might have been a reason to buy a pregnancy test without thinking twice.
For Nicole, it brought back memories she had spent eighteen months trying to escape.
She had been pregnant before.
Not with Grace.
A later pregnancy.
A baby she and Andre had hoped to welcome into their family.
At sixteen weeks, the pregnancy had ended in miscarriage.
The loss devastated them both.
Andre had taken time off work, helped Nicole through her recovery, and stayed beside her during appointments.
But gradually, they stopped speaking about what happened.
Not because they had forgotten.
Because every conversation hurt.
Andre threw himself into his job.
Nicole kept the house running.
Their grief settled into separate corners of their marriage.
After several difficult months, they agreed they would not deliberately try for another child until Nicole felt ready.
But the possibility of an unexpected pregnancy had never completely disappeared from her mind.
When her period was late, fear returned immediately.
She feared becoming attached to another baby.
She feared another hospital visit.
She feared telling Andre and watching hope return to his face when she wasn't sure she could bear another loss.
So she bought the test.
And hid it.
At least, she thought she had.
Andre entered the kitchen.
“Nicole.”
She turned.
“We need to talk.”
He sat at the dining table.
She remained standing.
“Are you pregnant?” he asked.
Nicole shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Andre frowned.
“You don't know?”
“I haven't taken the test.”
He looked toward the unopened box.
“Why didn't you tell me you were worried?”
She swallowed.
“Because I couldn't.”
“Couldn't or wouldn't?”
Nicole sat down.
Her hands were trembling.
“I kept thinking about the hospital.”
Andre's expression softened slightly.
He understood immediately which hospital she meant.
“Nicole…”
“I know you said we could wait. I know you never pressured me. But I thought if I told you my period was late, you'd start hoping again.”
Andre was quiet.
She continued.
“And I don't know if I can go through losing another baby.”
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then Andre said, “I wish you'd told me you were frightened.”
Nicole began crying.
“I was trying not to think about it.”
He looked at the receipt.
“But that still doesn't explain why you accused Maya.”
Nicole wiped her cheeks.
Her voice became smaller.
“Grace saw the box yesterday. Jordan saw it too. I thought one of them might mention it in front of you.”
“So?”
“So I moved it upstairs.”
Andre frowned.
“Where upstairs?”
Nicole looked away.
“The bathroom.”
“Beside Maya's things?”
She nodded.
Andre stared at her.
“Nicole, did you put that box next to Maya's makeup bag?”
“Yes.”
The admission hung between them.
He leaned back.
“You didn't find it there.”
“No.”
“You put it there.”
Nicole covered her mouth.
Andre's voice became firm.
“So when you walked into the kitchen and accused her, you already knew exactly whose box it was.”
Nicole nodded again.
“Why?”
She struggled to speak.
“Because when I realized you'd probably hear about it, I wanted the questions directed somewhere else.”
Andre stared at her.
“Toward my seventeen-year-old daughter?”
“I wasn't thinking clearly.”
“You thought clearly enough to move the box into her bathroom.”
Nicole began sobbing.
“I know.”
Andre stood.
For a moment, he walked toward the window.
Outside, the neighborhood was quiet.
Someone was walking a dog along the sidewalk.
Everything looked ordinary.
Inside his kitchen, his wife had just admitted deliberately framing his daughter.
When Andre spoke again, his voice was controlled.
“Nicole, your fear is real. What happened with the pregnancy was terrible. I know that.”
She looked up hopefully.
“But you used Maya to protect yourself from a conversation you didn't want to have.”
Nicole lowered her eyes.
“She didn't deserve that.”
“No. She didn't.”
Andre returned to the table.
“And I made it worse by believing you before I listened to her.”
Nicole pressed her palms together.
“What do we do now?”
He considered the question.
“I don't know yet.”
She began crying harder.
“Are you going to leave me?”
Andre didn't answer immediately.
He had loved Nicole for years.
He knew her grief.
He knew she could be generous and warm.
He also knew that a woman he trusted had deliberately injured his daughter's reputation inside their family.
“I need you to understand something,” he finally said.
“What?”
“This isn't just about whether you're pregnant.”
Nicole looked at him.
“You made Maya feel like she had to prove her innocence in her own home.”
He paused.
“And I let that happen.”
Nicole looked toward the staircase.
She remembered Maya running downstairs with her science project, asking Nicole to check the design.
She remembered helping Maya choose a dress for her first school dance.
She remembered the child who once asked if she could call her Mom.
Nicole had told herself that panic explained what she'd done.
Now she had to face the truth.
May you like
Her fear had become a deliberate choice.
And that choice had hurt someone who trusted her.
