His Mistress Had the Baby,I Had the Last Laugh

Sharon Jennings, I'm bringing my sworn sister to stay with us for a few days!

She's pregnant, and I don't trust anyone else to take care of her.

I was about to respond when Maxwell Head fixed me with a stern look. You can't even have kids yourself, so don't start getting jealous!

I could barely contain my laughter. "Sure. Leave it all to me."

"I don't mind helping take care of someone else's baby."

Maxwell broke into a grin. "When did you get so obedient?"

I swallowed my smile. When he found out the baby wasn't his, I hoped he'd still be grinning like that.

The next day, he brought Vera Galloway home.

I waited on her hand and foot, treating the woman and her swollen belly like royalty. Steak, lobster, sushi if she so much as glanced at something, I whipped up a new dish. I rotated the menu daily, making sure she never ate the same thing twice.

Even my mother couldn't stand it anymore. She pulled me aside and called me an idiot.

"Vera Galloway is not Maxwell's sworn sister. She's his mistress!"

"He brought his side piece right into your house, and you're playing maid with a smile on your face? Have you lost your mind?"

I just kept smiling.

My mother was seething. "Say the word. Just say the word, and I'll go in there and beat that baby right out of her. I don't care if I go to prison!"

I told her I had a plan.

She slapped me across the face, furious and heartbroken, and refused to speak to me after that.

Two months before Vera's due date, I took her to the BMW dealership to pick out a car.

"See anything you like? Take your pick."

Vera stared at me, stunned.

"You're not mad at me? For... being involved with your husband?"

I smiled. "You're giving the Head family an heir. I should be thanking you. Why would I be mad?"

She opened her mouth, then hesitated. I knew what she wanted to say.

I cut her off gently. "Pregnancy hormones are no joke. Don't overthink things. Just pick a car."

Then I walked over to a six-figure luxury sedan.

"Like this one?"

Vera barely nodded before I waved the salesman over and handed him my card. Full payment. No financing.

The clueless salesman looked at me. "And whose name should I put on the title?"

I glanced at Vera. "Hers, of course."

Vera burst into tears on the spot.

"Don't cry," I said. "It's not time for tears yet."

She froze, confusion flickering across her face.

"You think it's over once the baby's born?" I said. "That's when the real work starts."

"But don't worry. I've already booked the best postnatal recovery center in the city."

"And the best night nurse money can buy."

That seemed to put her at ease.

That evening, Maxwell came storming in with the receipt. "Sharon, you dropped six figures on a car without even asking me?"

"Did you ask me before you started cheating?"

"You know damn well why I cheated!"

"Fine. Blame me for not wanting kids."

The moment I backed down, Maxwell lifted his chin, exhaling through his nose like he'd won something.

"She's carrying your child," I said. "And you can't even give her a car?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to earn that kind of money?"

"What if Vera's having twins?"

Maxwell's expression finally softened into a satisfied grin.

"I knew I had it in me!"

"You take good care of Vera, and I'll make sure you stay the lady of this house. Always."

I gave him a smile that said nothing at all.

When Vera was close to her due date, I made a special trip out to the countryside to bring Summer Head into the city.

My mother-in-law never missed a chance to whisper behind my back about how I couldn't produce an heir, did she?

Well, with a show like this coming up, I certainly wasn't going to let her miss it.

The moment Summer found out she was about to become a grandmother, she set off firecrackers in the village for an entire day. Every dog and pig within a mile was howling from dawn to dusk.

"Your Maxwell is finally going to be a father!"

"And it's twins!"

Granny Perkins, the widowed old lady from the neighborhood, clasped my hands, so moved she was on the verge of tears.

I squeezed her hands tight. "Granny, the pregnant one isn't me."

The shock hit her so hard the tears she'd been about to shed retreated right back into her eyes.

"That boy of theirs has been a handful since he was little. Just be patient with him. Be the bigger person."

I smiled and nodded. "I know. The children come first, after all."

Granny said, "I knew I wasn't wrong about you. When Maxwell divorces you, I'll put in a good word, make sure you get a fair share of the money."

I told her, "Everything Maxwell has right now is mine."

"I gave it to him, and I can take it all back."

"But since he's making me a mother without any of the labor pains, I'll let it slide."

Granny stared at me for a beat. Then she gripped her cane and hobbled home at a speed I didn't think her legs were capable of.

The night I brought Mrs. Head home, I was fast asleep.

A pillow smacked me awake.

I opened my eyes to find my mother-in-law standing over me.

"Vera's carrying twins, and you're sleeping like a log? Get up and take care of her."

When I didn't move, she grabbed my arm and hauled me out of bed.

"Go sleep in Vera's room. Makes it easier to look after her."

"What about the nurse?"

"I sent the nurse away. No hired help takes care of family the way you can."

I was only a second too slow, and her tone sharpened. "What, you don't want to?"

"You're the one who can't pop out a baby. Whose fault is that?"

I swallowed the words rising in my throat.

"How do you know it's boy-girl twins?"

"Quit your yapping. Maxwell paid someone to check."

"Does the doctor know what Vera's actually carrying?"

"Enough with the nonsense. Get moving. Whatever she's carrying, it's a Head through and through."

I watched Mrs. Head standing there, so absolutely certain of herself, and the corner of my mouth curved upward. Well then. Let's hope you won't be disappointed.

Vera's due date hadn't arrived yet, but I could tell she was going into early labor.

Over Mrs. Head's objections, I got Vera into the car and headed for the hospital.

"She's not even due! You're dragging her to a hospital crawling with germs. What are you playing at?"

"Vera, sweetie, listen to Mama. Wait until your due date, okay?"

I dropped the obedient act. "No. She needs to be at the hospital now."

Mrs. Head was even more stubborn than I was. She grabbed my arm.

"Absolutely not. Hospitals are breeding grounds for bacteria. If my grandchild catches something, that's on you."

I shook her hand off and got Vera into the car by force.

Vera glanced at me with gratitude in her eyes.

I said, "Don't thank me."

"Women shouldn't make things harder for other women."

Halfway to the hospital, Maxwell blocked the road.

The look he gave me could have peeled skin from bone.

"Sharon, what the hell are you up to?"

"Trying to hurt my son?"

He parked his car sideways across the road, and within seconds a crowd gathered. Hundreds of people closed in around us.

This was the moment Vera could have stepped out and said one word in my defense, and the whole thing would have been over. But she stayed curled up in the backseat, wide-eyed and pitiful, gazing at Maxwell like he was some raging beast she couldn't possibly intervene against.

"If anything happens to my son, I'll bury you with him!"

I shot a cool glance at Vera cowering in the car, then turned a flat look on Maxwell and his snarling face.

"I'm doing this for Vera and the baby!"

"Ha. She's not even due yet. Don't think I don't know what you're really after."

I said, "Whether she's due or not isn't for you to decide!"

I pointed at Vera huddled in the backseat. "Ask her yourself!"

Maybe our screaming match had finally gotten to her. The delicate, helpless expression on Vera's face crumpled in an instant, twisting into something tight and agonized, like a wrung-out dishrag.

"Vera? What's wrong?"

Maxwell's scream snapped me to attention.

I looked at Vera. Her water had broken.

"What are you standing there for? Get her to the hospital!"

"I don't have time to deal with you right now."

Maxwell roared at me, then moved his car out from where he'd blocked mine. He pulled ahead to clear the way, and within fifteen minutes we made it to the hospital without incident.

Vera was wheeled into the delivery room. Mrs. Head arrived at the hospital shortly after, fuming.

The moment she saw me, she swung her hand and slapped me across the face.

A sweet, metallic taste surged up my throat. I opened my mouth to fire back, but a mouthful of blood came out instead.

"Sharon, I had no idea you could be this vicious."

"If anything happens to my grandchild, a slap will be the least of your worries."

"Who told you it's your grandchild?" I said.

Mrs. Head raised her hand again, shaking with fury. Before the blow could land, Maxwell caught her wrist.

His face was rigid, his eyes cutting like a blade.

"Sharon, what exactly are you saying?"

"That the babies Vera's carrying aren't mine? Is that what you're saying? Again?"

"What?" Mrs. Head was beside herself.

"You couldn't give us children, and I never held that against you."

"But you? You keep cursing Maxwell, over and over!"

She drove her foot into my knee.

I hadn't seen it coming. The kick buckled my legs and sent me to the ground.

"Whether they're your son's or not," I said from the floor, "you'll find out soon enough."

Maxwell didn't help me up. Instead, he seized my jaw in a vise grip, fingers digging into my skin.

"Even now, you won't quit."

"Fine. Let me spell it out for you. When Vera came to me, she was pure. Untouched. Not like you, you used-up piece of trash."

Mrs. Head's eyes went wide as saucers. She slapped me again.

Still not satisfied, she grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head into the wall.

She kept going, wrenching me forward and smashing me back, again and again, until my scalp split open and blood streaked down the plaster.

Even then, she wasn't done. She spat the words through gritted teeth: "No wonder you can't have kids!"

"Must've been sleeping around so much you got rid of too many. Ruined yourself."

I let the blood run from my forehead down my face. My eyes locked onto hers, unblinking.

"Who told you I'm the one who can't have children?"

"Still talking back!" She lunged at me again.

Maxwell saw the blood covering my head and face. He didn't stop her. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

Mrs. Head noticed he wasn't intervening, and it only emboldened her. Her voice climbed higher. "Of course it's you!"

"How many years have you been married to my son? Not a single egg to show for it."

"Now he's about to be a father. So tell me, who's the one that can't conceive?"

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "So any woman who gets pregnant must be carrying your son's baby?"

She took it for jealousy and rolled her eyes at me.

"You don't have to be so nasty about it!" She jabbed a finger in my direction. "I used to think my son married above himself. Turns out you're the one who took advantage of him, you worthless tramp."

"Go ahead and wait for your little gotcha moment!" She released my hair with a shove.

"When that baby comes out, you'll see for yourself!"

The words had barely left my mouth when the delivery room door swung open.

A nurse stepped out, her expression stern.

Maxwell and Mrs. Head rushed forward.

"This is a hospital. Keep your voices down!"

"All this commotion is disturbing the patient and the surgeon."

She waited until our side had gone quiet before continuing.

"Who here is Vera Galloway's family?"

Maxwell stepped forward, tense. "I am..."

The nurse swept Maxwell with a strange look.

"Nurse, how's Vera doing?"

"Are she and the babies okay?"

"They're fine, but..." The nurse trailed off, then produced a liability waiver and held it out to Maxwell.