Maya
I sat at the table while I read the paperwork that Nate had brought. If I’d signed with him, Nate would have become Axel’s father, he would have brought his last name, and half the custody would have gone to him and half to me. No one could ever challenge anything because it was a full-blown adoption.
But all this made me doubt. When did he have it all prepared? Everything that was happening over the last few days seemed very sudden, but I couldn’t think that it wasn’t something that Nate had studied.
I looked at Axel in the table chair.
He loved Nate like crazy, and Nate loved Axel like crazy, it didn’t surprise me that he wanted to make it official, that he wanted everyone to know that Axel was his son, so it was possible that he had thought of everything for a long time.
When he proposed, he asked me if I would accept Axel’s change of name, but we never really talked about it, it
NateI pushed the cart between the lanes while Axel tried to take off from my hand the phone where I was looking for the list Maya had made for me.That day I was off work and I went to pick up Axel at my mother’s house. Maya had class late, so I would take care of the dinner, and since we didn’t have anything in the fridge, I had to go and do the same.That had been our routine for weeks.Axel spent a day at home with my parents and one with Maya’s parents, he certainly didn’t stay alone for long. Sometimes he even stayed with Jess, who was on forced maternity leave, not that she complained or anything. She was complaining all the time about bombing everyone in the office who handled her open cases. She was a fucking control freak who could blow anyone away.After our wedding, Maya and I were living in what looked like a bubble. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my li
BradThree months beforeI put the key in the lock and turned, opening the door to the apartment I had taken for the moment.The space was dark, and I sighed as I entered with one box in hand and the suitcase in the other while pushing the other box with my foot. I had the rest of my stuff in the car, but I didn't want to take it after a far from an easy trip.On the other hand, it was late at night, and I could very well start unpacking from the day after I would not have started the new job until the next week.It made me so weird to be in this new city after spending most of my life in New York. However, after the various hospital cuts and knowing that I would be next on the list, this offer was what I needed.The oncology department at the hospital was running out of nurses, and when I sent my résumé around, they were the first to respond. Of course, I had to
BradI went into the supermarket yawning, after a shift and a hell of a week, I was completely shattered, and destroyed.I’ve been fighting with Sheila for over three weeks. We weren’t moving forward on good terms, and it wasn’t what I was hoping for in peace, not that she cared.According to Sheila’s mind, her pregnancy wasn’t important to her and her career. She didn’t want to miss any opportunity, she didn’t want to interrupt her career for our daughter, she didn’t want to pause her life for our daughter, so she’d rather give her up for adoption than raise her, and when I said I’d take full responsibility, she refused.For three weeks, all I had done was talk to my lawyer and the social workers that Sheila had put in the middle of the adoption because, without my consent, she had sought a family to entrust my daughter to.Last night, during the break, I called
MayaI turned my back, trying to hide all the emotions that were going through my face. I knew if I even looked him in the eye for a second, I’d burst into tears.So was it all a lie? Was everything that happened a lie? Was it his fear? Was it his not trusting me?"You only married me because you didn’t trust me," I said in a whisper, "Everything you said was bullshit? Wanting to not waste time, wanting to spend the rest of your life with me, wanting to build a family, that was all bullshit to tie me to you? For fear that Brad would come along and there was a chance that I would choose him over you? Do you really believe so little in my feelings for you?""No!" Nate immediately replied "Not so, I was afraid yes, but not that you could choose him, I was afraid that he could get in the middle of us!""Because you don’t trust me!" I turned and squeezed."I trust you! I don’t trust him!" Nate replied, holding Axel to himself.I had a bitter laugh."Him? He has nothing to do with it! It’s
NateI got up from the sofa, and outside, the sky was still dark. I had not slept at all and spent the night looking at the ceiling, thinking about how to solve the situation. In those days, I also had to empty my apartment since, at the end of the month, I had to vacate it for new tenants, and having this mess at home with Maya was not the best.I wanted to surprise her on her birthday, I wanted to take her to the house that I had taken in her name and mine, but apparently, the fucking jobs it needed were more important than they looked, and the agency had fucked me over. I should have talked to them, too and canceled everything. Fortunately, I had not signed.It could have been good for me, too. I could have graced Maya again by going with her to find a home. Maybe as well as returning to her good graces, I could have returned to her legs.I got up, folded the blanket neatly, left it on the sofa, and then put the pillow on it. I went to the kitchen and put the coffee in while I we
MayaI woke up to the sound of my cell phone vibrating on my bedside table, and I realized I had a blanket on me. Axel slept happily beside me as he had never slept before.The night before, I fell asleep exhausted from a cry that I didn’t even know what it was for.Or rather, yes. I felt empty. As if everything that had been the past few weeks was just huge bullshit.Yet, in my heart, I knew it was not so. I knew that Nate loved me, he showed me in every possible and unimaginable way, he adopted Axel, raised him, and would raise him as his son. But if he loved me so much, why didn’t he tell me the truth?Why didn’t you tell me your fears? I was fucking terrified, too, that Brad might have some claim on Axel, and I would do anything to protect him from him, to keep him from even getting anywhere near us.I would have supported his idea and done the same, but I wanted to know! I didn’t want to get fucked up and walk down the aisle like an idiot. I would have told him yes! I would alwa
MayaThat day had arrived and gone in a flash. All day I had not received any news from Nate. Why didn’t he look for me?Again I tried to wash Axel, and he again refused. This time I forced and scolded him and then put him in the bath to wash him. All the while, he didn’t look at me, and he just got himself washed up in silence with red eyes swollen with tears.I felt like shit about it, but I couldn’t wait for Nate. Neither of us could wait for Nate.I changed Axel, and he remained silent without looking at me, offended to death by me.Once I changed into his pajamas, I tried to put him to bed, but he refused and kept repeating Dada endlessly.I knew the argument was between Nate and me, but Axel was the one who ends hurt the most, and that was one of the reasons I didn’t want anything to do with him at first.Axel began crying desperately, not wanting to stay in bed. I picked him up and went back to the salon and picked up my phone, and dialed Nate’s number."Yes," he said coldly."
MayaI opened the door to Nate’s apartment, and I almost fell into boxes. I stood up and looked around, noticing the stack of boxes everywhere in the lobby, randomly placed. Couldn’t he put them right? But how much stuff did he have? It wouldn’t have entered my apartment at all.I sighed and tried to pass the boxes before entering the kitchen with the bags.I had an hour before Nate came home, and, as he told me himself, he would come straight here with Axel because that day he had decided to take him to the office with him because my child had been the devil when Nate had tried to leave him at my parents' house. So he was forced to take him to work.With Axel’s excuse, I could talk to him more today, asking him if he would come home for dinner, and he told me that he preferred to fix his apartment first and that they would most likely eat something here.He was a fool if he thought I would stay home and wait for him to return. No, tonight we’ll talk and clear everything up. I couldn’