After My Best Friend Had a Baby Instead Me, I Broke Up with My Boyfriend

1: 1

1.

Seven years together, and Clarence Simmons and I had both agreed on a child-free life. But both sets of parents wanted grandchildren, so they'd refused to let us marry.

Then, on our anniversary, both families got all mysterious and said they'd set up a surprise for me at a hotel.

I thought they'd finally come around, that they'd teamed up with Clarence to propose.

Instead, I pushed open the door of the private dining room, and my best friend Elaine Henson tossed an ultrasound photo at me and announced she was carrying my boyfriend's baby.

My best friend said sweetly, "You're scared of having a baby, aren't you? So now I'll have one for you."

"When the baby's born, it can call you Mom and me godmother. Simple as that."

Clarence's parents spoke to me as if handing down a favor. "Now that there's a baby, we approve of the marriage. The county clerk's office is still open, so go get your license."

Clarence looked at me, his tone matter-of-fact. "Do you know how good Elaine's being to you? She's giving up being the child's real mother, all so the two of us can be together."

My mother chimed in from the side. "Exactly. You don't even have to give birth, and you get a baby for free. What's not to like? Now hurry up and thank Elaine."

My boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend, and yet every single one of them stood there waiting for me to say thank you.

I tore the ultrasound photo to pieces, turned, and walked out.

I wasn't marrying into this. And I didn't want this family either.

I picked up my bag and walked out.

Clarence chased me to the hotel entrance and grabbed my wrist.

"Can you stop making a scene? Both our families are in there. Do you have any idea how embarrassing you're making this for everyone?"

I shook his hand off, my voice full of disbelief.

"So now I'm the one embarrassing everyone?"

Clarence drew a deep breath, like he was holding something back, then tried to explain it to me as if he were being patient.

"I know you can't accept it right away, but this really is the best solution. You don't want to give birth, Elaine's willing to have the baby for us, and once it's born, you get to be its mother."

"Don't be so ungrateful. Besides, the Simmons family runs a huge company. I'm the only son. You really expect me to go child-free and never have a kid?"

Clarence didn't feel he'd betrayed me at all. In his mind, Elaine having his baby was doing me a favor, making our marriage possible.

And my refusal was somehow me not knowing what was good for me.

I looked at this man I'd loved for seven years, and all at once he felt like a complete stranger.

Clarence was the one who'd brought up the child-free life in the first place. He was the one who'd said, isn't it better to just have each other? Why let a child come between what we have? And now he was the one asking for one.

Back then, I'd actually wanted a child. It was Clarence who kept telling me he wanted the child-free life, that he didn't want kids, and because I loved him, I was the one who went around telling everyone I was child-free by choice.

And now Clarence was betraying me like this.

I didn't say anything more. I flagged down a taxi, got in, and shut the door.

I looked in the rearview mirror. He stood where he was and didn't come after me.

Back at my rented apartment, I sat on the edge of the bed, my eyes red, drowning in everything I'd swallowed, the tears about to spill over.

The lock turned, and my mother suddenly pushed the door open. She had a spare key to my place.

She shut the door and looked at me, without a trace of worry in her eyes, only reproach. "Why did you run off like that? Do you have any idea how much face I lost? I had to sit there smiling at his mother because of you."

"Now come back with me right this minute. The clerk's office hasn't closed yet. Go get married, on our anniversary, a good day like this."

I lifted my head and looked at her, and she seemed like a total stranger.

"My boyfriend's been sleeping with my best friend, and you still want to force me to stay with him?"

My mother sighed and sat down beside me, as if she were about to reason with me. "Try to be more open-minded. Isn't Elaine doing this for your own good too?"

I froze. They'd cheated, and it was somehow for my own good. How absurd was that?

I was so furious I could have spat blood, and yet my mother said in complete earnest, "You think having a baby is easy? She's sacrificing her own body to give birth for you. What more do you want?"

Her face was full of sincerity, as if she saw nothing ridiculous in a word she was saying.

My voice trembled as I fired back. "That's her baby. Hers and Clarence's. How am I supposed to raise it?"

My mother's tone went cold, exasperated with me. "Why couldn't you raise it? It'll call you Mom anyway, and once it's grown, it'll take care of you all the same. Better than you never having kids and having no one to look after you when you're old."

As if she couldn't be bothered to talk to me anymore, she stood up and added one more line. "Don't get a good deal and still act like you're the one being wronged."

I was shaking all over with rage.

She left, and the door closed behind her.

I sat on the bed, and the tears I'd been forcing back finally fell.

I finally understood: in her eyes, I wasn't a person.

My pain, my dignity, my limits, all of it was worthless next to a child that didn't even exist yet.

2: 2

2.

That night, I saw a post from Clarence's cousin on my social media feed: My poor brother seven years with someone, only to be treated like a backup. Thank God Elaine actually cares about him. Some women won't lay their own eggs and won't let anyone else lay theirs either. The nerve of them.

The photo was the group shot from the private room tonight, Elaine sitting beside Clarence, a cake set out in front of them, everyone laughing.

In the comments, Clarence's relatives were debating what to name the baby.

I scrolled down. A mutual friend had replied underneath: She's right. Clarence hasn't had it easy, stuck with a woman like that.

My heart gave a sharp twist, and the tears nearly came again.

I closed the feed, only to find that the class group chat and the family group chat were both full of it too.

Someone had pulled me into a small private group to talk me down. A woman friend in it sent a long message: "I think Clarence has a point, honestly. You never wanted kids in the first place, and now someone's willing to have one for you."

"And the baby's still your boyfriend's own blood, so isn't that a good thing? I really don't get what you're so upset about."

I stared at the message. I wanted to fire back a long reply of my own, but in the end I just stayed silent, and the tears fell before I could stop them.

I turned off the screen and sat in the dark with my arms around my knees.

The whole world was urging me to accept it. Not one person thought Clarence and Elaine had betrayed me.

They only thought I was being petty, making a scene over nothing.

Even my right to be angry had been stripped away. I'd become a joke, an ungrateful fool.

For seven years, I'd treated Clarence as my love, Elaine as my sister, my mother as someone to lean on.

Only now did I see that none of them had ever treated me as a person at all.

Early the next morning, my doorbell rang.

Elaine stood in the doorway in a cream knit top, the faint swell of her belly showing through it.

When I said nothing, she stepped closer, took my hand, and laid it gently on her stomach, her voice soft. "The baby's moving already. When I had my ultrasound, I saw him turn over in there. He was so cute."

"And I kept thinking a baby this precious, wouldn't it be wonderful if he could call you Mom?"

Her eyes were unbelievably tender, as if she truly cared about me.

I pulled my hand back and said coldly, "Elaine. You slept with my boyfriend, got pregnant with his baby, and now you come here to tell me how cute it is?"

"You stole your best friend's boyfriend. Don't you feel even the slightest bit of shame?"

Elaine blinked, her eyes full of innocence, her voice puzzled. "Yes, I slept with him, but I only wanted to help you. Look ever since this baby, his parents have agreed to let you two marry. You're the one who didn't go register."

"I've been so good to you. Why would you look at me with such an ugly mind?"

She lowered her head and stroked her belly softly. "Besides, the baby's already here. We can't just get rid of it, can we? It's a life."

Listening to Elaine deliver these vicious words so gently, I only felt the whole thing grow more absurd.

They were the ones who couldn't keep it in their pants and ended up in bed together, and now they'd dressed it up as some kind of self-sacrifice.

And she wanted to use a life to hold me hostage, to turn me, the one who'd been betrayed, into a jealous woman who just wasn't generous enough?

I finally couldn't stand it anymore, and my voice came out with anger in it. "Are you done? If you're done, then get out!"

Then, without waiting to see how she reacted, I shut the door without a moment's hesitation.

3: 3

3.

Not two minutes later, my mother showed up. She let herself into my rented apartment and started laying into me.

"Martha, are you done throwing your tantrum? I'm doing this for your own good! You don't want to carry a child, so Elaine's carrying one for you. You're still the wife. The baby will call you Mom. You lose nothing!"

"She's been so good to you, and you lock her out on the doorstep? Where are your manners? Go apologize to Elaine, right now!"

I didn't answer. All I could think about, suddenly, was my father.

My father had loved me dearly. If he were still here, he would never have stood by and watched something like this happen to me.

I still remember the year he passed, when I was fifteen. He pressed a jade pendant into my palm and told me that from then on, whenever I looked at it, I should think of it as him protecting me.

At the memory, my chest ached in a way I couldn't name, and without thinking I pulled open the drawer of my vanity. The box was empty.

I dumped everything out of the drawer like a woman gone mad, but the jade was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, are you looking for that jade?" My mother's voice came from behind me, matter-of-fact.

"Elaine said she liked it a while back, so I gave it to her. And she told me her morning sickness eased up once she started wearing it. Quite the lucky charm."

My whole body was shaking. I turned to face her. "That's Dad's keepsake!"

But there wasn't a trace of regret on her face. She threw it back at me instead. "It's just a piece of jade. Which matters more, a person or a thing? Isn't Elaine your closest friend? What's wrong with lending it to her to wear for a while?"

I couldn't stand to hear any more of it. I grabbed my phone and rushed out the door, only to find Elaine still standing right outside. She hadn't left at all.

She'd probably heard my mother and me arguing. With a hint of smugness, she tugged the pendant out from under her collar and asked, feigning innocence,

"Martha, why do you keep staring at the pendant on my neck?"

I pointed at it and said flatly, "That's my father's keepsake. Give it back."

Elaine touched the jade, a wounded look crossing her face, and said in an innocent little voice,

"This is your father's keepsake? Your mom didn't say that when she gave it to me. I thought it was just an ordinary piece of jewelry."

"But it really is lucky. My morning sickness cleared up after I put it on. Could you lend it to me for a few more months?"

Listening to her, I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my palms, a piercing sting shooting through my hands. I said it word by word.

"I'll say it one more time. That is the keepsake my father left me. Give it back, now!"

Elaine's eyes went red in an instant, and she put on a helpless little act. "Can I give it back after the baby's born? Taking it off now isn't good for the baby, and you wouldn't hold a grudge against a baby, would you?"

At some point my mother had come up behind me, and she cut in. "If your father were still here, he'd want you settled and married too. What's the harm in Elaine having the jade? Your best friend is having a baby just so you can get married!"

I looked at the jade around Elaine's neck, at the entitlement on my mother's face, and said nothing more.

"All of you, get out!" I all but shoved my mother out of the apartment, snatching the spare key out of her hand as I did.

My mother's scolding carried in from the other side of the door. I slid slowly down against it until I was sitting on the floor, feeling more helpless than I ever had in my life.

The tears fell, one after another. I wiped them away with the back of my hand, but I couldn't stop them coming.

4: 4

4.

Three days later my mother called, saying she wanted to sit down and talk. At home. She said she knew she'd been wrong and wanted to apologize.

When I stood at my own front door, I could smell food cooking.

I pushed the door open and found the living room full of people. Both sets of parents, Clarence, Elaine, all of them there.

The table was covered with dishes, and in the middle sat a printed agreement.

Cassandra Simmons stood, smiling wide. "Martha's here. Come, sit."

My mother pressed me down into a chair, her voice light. "Stop scowling. You've cooled off now, haven't you? We've talked it over. You sign this, and we treat the whole thing like it never happened."

She slid the agreement in front of me.

I glanced down at it.

One. I was to publicly acknowledge Elaine as a "benefactor," and state that her pregnancy was "a decision we made together."

Two. After the child was born, I was to pay Elaine two million dollars in "nourishment" money.

Three. I was to remain childless for life, to guarantee this child's sole right of inheritance.

My mother explained beside me. "See? Mom's thought it all through for you. Once Elaine takes the money, she cuts all ties with the child. The baby is yours and Clarence's, the two of you marry, and everything's perfect."

Elaine rose sweetly and poured me a cup of tea.

"If you're still not at ease, Martha, I can write a written promise. The moment the baby's born, I'll sign him over to your family. I'll never come near you again."

I looked at Clarence. He sat there, silent.

I stood up. My voice was steady. "I won't sign."

"Martha"

"I said, I won't sign."

I turned and left. No one came after me, because they were sure I'd give in sooner or later.

Back at the rental, before I could even get the door open, a wave of dizziness hit me and I passed out on the doorstep.

Thank God a neighbor called an ambulance.

When I woke, I was lying on a bed in the emergency room, and a doctor came over holding a stack of reports.

"You have severe anxiety disorder, with somatic symptoms."

He flipped to the pages behind, his tone softening into something like advice.

"There's one more thing. Your bloodwork shows traces of long-term use of a powerful contraceptive. The side effects of that kind of drug are severe."

"Because of it, you can no longer bear children. You've also developed breast cancer, though thankfully it's early-stage, still treatable."

I froze. And all at once I thought of the past seven years, of Clarence handing me a cup of warm milk every night, telling me to drink it before bed. To help me sleep, he'd said.

I picked up my phone and sent Clarence a message. "What did you put in the milk you gave me?"

About half an hour later, he replied. "You found out?"

Then a second message. "Contraceptives can fail and you could still get pregnant. I didn't want you to be scared, so I kept giving you the strong stuff."

"But I did it for your own good. I only wanted you to feel more at ease."

For your own good. That line again.

All I felt was nausea and despair, and after I'd cried myself out, the storm inside me slowly went quiet.

I checked out of the hospital and went back to the rental.

I pulled out my suitcase, packed everything, and left with it rolling behind me, without once looking back.

I was leaving this city. Going somewhere none of them would ever find me.