He shot me a look, as if expecting me to shut her down. I didn’t.
Maya stepped closer, lowering her voice because Leo was nursing, but making every word count.
“She went to appointments alone. She puked alone. She signed surgical forms alone. She came home from the hospital with stitches in her stomach and a preemie in her arms, and the first grand gesture you people make is to show up with a wedding invitation?”
“That wasn’t—”
“Don’t.” Maya held up a hand. “Don’t insult me by pretending this was classy. This was cruel.”
Ethan looked at me again. “I didn’t know.”
That was true. And somehow it made me angrier.
Because not knowing had been his choice long before it became his shock.
Maya saw the shift in my face and softened just enough to hand me a glass of water.
“Drink,” she said quietly. “You need it.”
Then she turned back to Ethan and said, “What do you want?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“A paternity test.”
The room went silent.
Leo made a soft swallowing sound against my chest. The kettle hissed faintly as it cooled. My whole body felt suddenly made of wire.
Maya’s eyebrows went up. “Of course.”
“If he’s mine—”
“He is yours,” I said flatly.