Chapter 7
Margaret showed up at my house that afternoon.
She didn’t call first.
She just rang the doorbell.
I opened the door.
She stood there.
Expensive clothes.
Perfect hair.
Cold eyes.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
“Hello to you too, Margaret.”
She pushed past me.
“Ethan!”
I closed the door.
Ethan came out of the kitchen.
Liam was right behind him.
When Margaret saw the boy, her lip curled.
“Ethan, we need to talk. Alone.”
“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of everyone,” Ethan said.
He put a protective arm around Liam.
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Fine. I heard about the… situation. With Sarah. And the boy.”
“His name is Liam,” Ethan said. “And he’s my son.”
Margaret waved a hand.
“Semantics. I’ve already spoken to my lawyers. We can fight this. Dispute the paternity. Question Sarah’s character. She’s clearly unstable. Dying people often are—”
“Enough.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
Final.
“Liam is my son. Sarah is dying. And I’m going to take care of both of them. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem.”
Margaret’s face turned red.
“Ethan, think about your reputation. Your business. Your future with Claire.”
She looked at me.
“Surely you don’t want this. A strange boy and his dying mother living in your house. It’s not right. It’s not normal.”
I stepped forward.
“Actually, Margaret, I’m fine with it. They’re family now. And family takes care of each other.”
I paused.
“Something you clearly know nothing about.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed with anger.
Before she could respond, Sarah walked into the room.
She was leaning against the wall for support.
But she stood tall.
“Hello, Margaret.”
Margaret’s face went white.
“You.”
“Me,” Sarah said. “Still alive. Still fighting. And still telling the truth.”
She took a step forward.
“You told me Ethan was dead. You took seven years from my son. You tried to destroy my life. And now you’re trying to do it again.”
Sarah’s voice was steady.
Strong.
“But I’m not afraid of you anymore. I’m dying. What can you do to me? Kill me faster?”
The room went silent.
Margaret stared at her.
For the first time, I saw fear in Margaret’s eyes.
Sarah continued.
“I’ve already given Ethan copies of everything. The letters you sent me. The fake obituary. The threatening phone calls I recorded. If you try to hurt Liam, or Ethan, or Claire, or that baby she’s carrying—”
Margaret’s head snapped toward me.
“Baby?”
Sarah smiled.
A cold, knowing smile.
“Claire is pregnant. With Ethan’s child. Your grandchild. And if you so much as breathe wrong around any of us, I’ll make sure every secret you’ve ever kept becomes public. Every lie. Every manipulation. Every destroyed life. I’ll take you down, Margaret. Even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Margaret stumbled backward.
She looked at Ethan.
“Is this true? She’s pregnant?”
Ethan nodded.
“She is. And if you ever come near this house again, or any of us, I will press charges. I will take you to court. I will make sure you spend the rest of your life alone and miserable. Do you understand me?”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
For a moment, I saw the woman beneath the mask.
Scared.
Lonely.
Desperate for control.
But then the mask snapped back into place.
She straightened her shoulders.
“You’ll regret this,” she said. “All of you.”
She turned and walked out.
The door slammed behind her.
The room was quiet.
Sarah started coughing.
Deep, painful coughs.
Ethan rushed to her side.
“Easy. Take it easy.”
Sarah leaned against him.
“I’m okay,” she gasped. “Just… needed to say that.”
I walked over to her.
“That was incredible.”
She gave me a weak smile.
“I’ve been waiting seven years to tell her off.”
She looked at Liam.
The boy was watching with wide eyes.
“Come here, baby.”
Liam walked over.
Sarah knelt down.
She hugged him tight.
“Mommy’s okay,” she whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”
But I knew it wasn’t.
Sarah was getting weaker by the day.
The cancer was winning.
And Margaret wasn’t going to give up that easily.
She would be back.
And when she came…
She would be more dangerous than ever.
That night, I sat with Sarah in her room.
Ethan had taken Liam to the park.
They wanted some father-son time.
Sarah was propped up in bed.
Oxygen tubes in her nose.
She looked so small.
So fragile.
“Claire,” she said. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
She took my hand.
“When I’m gone… will you take care of Liam? Really take care of him? Love him like he’s your own?”
Tears filled my eyes.
I nodded.
“I will. I promise.”
Sarah squeezed my hand.
“I know you will. I can see it in your eyes. You’re a good person, Claire. Better than I ever was.”
She paused.
“Ethan loves you. More than he ever loved me. I can see that too. Don’t let what happened between us ruin what you have. You two belong together.”
I wiped away a tear.
“But you and him—”
“Were a long time ago,” she said. “We were kids. We loved each other, but it wasn’t meant to be. You and him… that’s real. That’s forever.”
She smiled.
“Promise me something else.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you’ll give Ethan a chance. To be a father to both children. To be a husband to you. He’s a good man. He just needed someone to believe in him.”
I nodded.
“I promise.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Thank you.”
She fell asleep.
I sat there.
Holding her hand.
And I knew.
I knew that I would keep my promises.
I would love Liam.
I would give Ethan a chance.
May you like
And I would build a family.
Even if it wasn’t the family I’d planned.
