“Three!”
Fifty voices filled the room.
Pink and blue garlands hung from the ceiling.
Rodney’s hand rested beside mine on the lid of the enormous white box.
“Two!”
Someone near the back started laughing too early.
My mother had her phone raised. Pink and blue garlands hung from the ceiling, and string lights glowed over tables crowded with food nobody was paying attention to anymore.
Rodney’s hand rested beside mine on the lid of the enormous white box.
Inside the box were balloons.
🎀👕 Pink or blue.
I genuinely didn’t know which.
The doctor had sealed the answer in an envelope, and I’d handed it directly to the organizer.
“One!”
Gender reveal party | Source: Pexels
“Wait.”
The countdown collapsed.
A woman I had never seen before walked between the tables.
She was pregnant.
Obviously pregnant.
A woman I had never seen before walked between the tables.
She wore a fitted green dress and carried herself with the confidence of someone who hadn’t accidentally wandered into the wrong party.
People moved aside.
The woman stopped several feet from us.
Her eyes went to Rodney.
Then to me.
She was pregnant.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t want to miss this.”
I removed my hands from the box.
“Do I know you?”
“No.” She smiled. “I’m Alice.”
Rodney hadn’t moved.
That was the first thing I noticed.
“I didn’t want to miss this.”
He wasn’t confused.
“Alice?” I repeated.
She touched one hand to her stomach.
“Go ahead. Open your box and let’s see what you’re having.”
Nobody spoke.
Then she looked at Rodney.
“Open your box and let’s see what you’re having.”
“And then we’ll find out what Rodney and I are having.”
I turned to my husband.
“What is she talking about?”
Rodney rubbed his palm against the side of his pants.
“Betty…”
“What is she talking about?” I repeated.
Close-up of two pregnant women | Source: Pexels
Alice’s smile had disappeared.
Rodney looked around at our guests as if fifty witnesses were the inconvenient part.
Then he shrugged. “Well, yeah. It’s true.”
I waited for the rest.
Surely there had to be more.
“What is she talking about?”
There wasn’t.
“Alice and I are together too,” he admitted.
“Together too?”
“Betty, don’t make this…”
“Don’t make this what?”
“Well, yeah. It’s true.”
His eyes moved toward the crowd again.
“A scene.”
Alice had walked into my gender reveal pregnant and announced that my husband had fathered her child, but apparently I was in danger of making a scene.
“How long?” I asked.
Apparently I was in danger of making a scene.
“Does that matter right now?”
“Yes.”
Rodney exhaled.
Then he said something so ridiculous that for a second I wondered whether I’d misunderstood him.
“Men can’t have just one woman. Honey, that’s just how men are.”
“How long?”
Nobody rescued him. Not one man in the room suddenly stepped forward to confirm this universal male condition.
Alice shifted beside him.
I looked at her stomach.
Then at mine.
Then at Rodney.
“Men can’t have just one woman.”
My chair scraped the floor when I backed away.
Someone said my name.
I didn’t stop.
I walked through the service corridor, pushed open the side door, and kept going until the music from the venue became muffled behind brick.
Someone said my name.
Outside, I sat on a low stone wall.
My hands wouldn’t cooperate with my phone at first.
I put it beside me.
Breathed.
I didn’t stop.
Picked it up again.
- I wanted to scream.
- I wanted to call my mother.
- I wanted to get in my car and leave Rodney standing beside that ridiculous unopened box until every balloon inside it deflated.
Then another thought arrived.
I wanted to scream.
Why was I the one running away?
Why was I the one hiding outside like I had something to be ashamed of?
- I hadn’t cheated.
- I hadn’t brought a pregnant stranger to somebody else’s celebration.
- I hadn’t humiliated anyone.
And there was something else.
Why was I the one running away?
Something Rodney, in all his excitement about apparently becoming the father of two babies, seemed to have forgotten.
I made a call. Then another.
I downloaded the records from the clinic portal and asked the venue manager if I could use her office printer. Then I called a nearby store and arranged for a fireproof document safe to be delivered.
I made a call.
***
Less than an hour later, I walked back inside.
Conversation stopped.
Rodney came toward me immediately. “Betty, please. Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
Alice stood near the original reveal box.
“Can we talk privately?”
It was still unopened.
A delivery driver appeared behind me, pushing a dolly with a heavy cardboard package.
“Where do you want this, ma’am?”
I pointed. “Right in the middle.”
The driver set it down between Rodney and Alice.
A dolly with a heavy cardboard package | Source: Pexels
Rodney stared at it. “What is that?”
“A gift.”
“For who?”
“You two.”
Alice looked at me.
“What is that?”
I smiled, although there was nothing pleasant behind it.
“Rodney, I thought about it, and you’re right. So I decided you two should get a gift too, since I’m not the only one celebrating today.”
“Betty, don’t do this.”
“Open it.”
“I decided you two should get a gift too.”
Rodney hesitated.
That interested me.
“You were comfortable making announcements in front of everyone earlier,” I said. “Go ahead.”
Rodney cut through the tape.
“Go ahead.”
Inside the shipping carton was a small fireproof document safe. Heavy enough that the driver had needed the dolly.
Rodney stopped.
Alice frowned. “What’s that?”
I entered the combination.
“Now open it.”
Rodney lifted the lid.
I entered the combination.
Inside were copies of records from the fertility clinic:
📃 A storage agreement.
📑 Treatment paperwork.
📋 A laboratory report.
And the image from the embryo transfer that resulted in the baby I was carrying.
Inside were copies of records from the fertility clinic.
Rodney recognized everything immediately. The color left his face.
Alice picked up the first document. As she read the first page, the color drained from her face too.
“What is this?”
I looked at my husband. “Rodney, did you forget to tell Alice how our baby was conceived?”
Rodney recognized everything immediately.
Alice turned. “What does she mean?”
“Betty…” Rodney started.
“No. She came here for an announcement. Let her have one.”
He closed his eyes.
“What does she mean?”
… Years earlier, before treatment for a medical condition, Rodney had banked sperm because his doctors warned us his fertility could be permanently affected.
They were right.
Later testing showed that his fertility had been severely affected, enough that his doctors told us natural conception was extremely unlikely.
Rodney had banked sperm.
When we were finally ready for a child, the sample he’d stored before treatment became part of our fertility journey.
Our baby hadn’t been an accident. Our baby had been hoped for, planned for, and fought for through appointments Rodney once attended, holding my hand.
Alice looked from the papers to him.
“You’re infertile?”
Our baby hadn’t been an accident.
Rodney flinched.
“The treatment caused it.”
“Then how…”
Her hand moved toward her stomach.
I stopped her before she could turn my medical records into an answer they couldn’t give.
“I’m not telling you who your baby’s father is.”
“The treatment caused it.”
She stared at me.
“I’m telling you that you shouldn’t take his word for it.”
“But he said…”
“Apparently Rodney says a lot of things.”
Alice looked back at the report. She read the first page again.
“I’m not telling you who your baby’s father is.”
“He told me you were the one who couldn’t have children.”
I forgot about everyone else in the room.
“What?”
Alice swallowed. “He said you were infertile.”
I looked at Rodney.
He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“He told me you were the one who couldn’t have children.”
“He said you wanted a baby so badly that you were doing treatments. He said he stayed because he felt guilty leaving you while you were going through it.”
I walked toward him.
“You told her our fertility treatment was because of me?”
“It was complicated.”
“No.” I pointed at the records. “It was private.”
“He said he stayed because he felt guilty leaving you.”
“Betty, I was trying to…”
“What?”
He stopped. There wasn’t a useful ending to that sentence.
Alice’s voice came from behind me.
“You said the marriage was over.”
There wasn’t a useful ending to that sentence.
Rodney turned. “It practically was.”
That was news to me.
I gave a small nod. “Interesting.”
“Betty…”
“We picked nursery paint last weekend.”
“You said the marriage was over.”
Alice looked at him. “You told me you were sleeping in separate rooms.”
I almost laughed. “He’s been sleeping beside me every night.”
Alice stepped away from Rodney.
Her face was different now.
Less triumphant. More alert.
“He’s been sleeping beside me every night.”
“I didn’t know,” she breathed.
I looked at her. “About his fertility?”
“About any of this.”
“You knew about me.”
She said nothing. That mattered too.
“You knew about me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“I believe you.”
She looked almost relieved.
“That doesn’t make us even.”
The relief disappeared.
Good.
“That doesn’t make us even.”
I wasn’t interested in becoming Alice’s new best friend because Rodney had lied to both of us.
Alice had knowingly walked into my party to announce an affair.
But now she finally looked at the man she’d arrived expecting to claim.
“Are you saying there’s no way he’s the father?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “I’m saying you need a proper paternity test.”
Alice had knowingly walked into my party to announce an affair.
Rodney stepped forward.
“This is insane. Of course the baby’s mine.”
Alice looked at him. “Based on what?”
Silence.
“You told me it was mine,” he finally said.
“Are you saying there’s no way he’s the father?”
Alice stared at him. “And you just believed me?”
Rodney glanced at the guests.
❌ Wrong audience.
❌ Wrong question.
❌ Wrong day to suddenly become concerned about evidence.
Alice folded the report.
“And you just believed me?”
Then stopped and laid it carefully back in the safe.
“You said men can’t have one woman.”
“Alice.”
“How many were there?”
“What?”
“Women.”
“How many were there?”
“It was only you.”
She gave him a look. “Only?”
Rodney reached for her arm.
She stepped away.
“This is nobody else’s business.”
“It was only you.”
I looked around the room.
- My mother.
- His brother.
- Friends.
- Coworkers.
The organizer was still standing near the unopened gender box.
“This is nobody else’s business.”
“You made it their business.” Alice picked up her purse. “I’m getting a paternity test.”
“Alice, don’t be ridiculous. You probably cheated on me. I just…”
She stopped.
“You don’t get to be offended by verification today.”
“I’m getting a paternity test.”
Then she walked toward the exit.
Rodney started after her.
“Let her go.”
He turned toward me. “Betty, please.”
I looked past him.
“Betty, please.”
At the first box.
Still there. Still unopened. Still waiting.
Rodney followed my eyes.
And suddenly, I remembered why I’d come to this room in the first place.
“Let her go.”
Rodney took one step toward me.
“Betty, before you open that, can we please talk?”
“No.”
“Five minutes.”
“You’ve had months.”
The room had become painfully quiet.
I remembered why I’d come to this room in the first place.
I walked toward the original box.
The organizer met me halfway. “Do you want me to take it away?”
I looked at the pink and blue ribbons curling from the lid.
“No.”
Rodney came closer. “Betty.”
“Do you want me to take it away?”
I held up one hand. He stopped.
- I had spent the last hour learning things about my marriage I hadn’t known when I woke up that morning.
- I didn’t know whether Rodney and I would still be married next month.
- I didn’t know whether Alice’s baby was his.
- I didn’t know how many other lies were waiting for me.
I looked at the pink and blue ribbons curling from the lid.
But one thing inside that room had nothing to do with Alice.
Or Rodney’s ego. Or his ridiculous theory about men needing multiple women.
I put both hands on the box.
“I still came here to find out about my baby.”
I didn’t know how many other lies were waiting for me.
My mother covered her mouth.
Someone quietly began counting.
“Three.”
A few more voices joined.
“Two.”
Rodney stayed where he was.
“One.”
My mother covered her mouth.
I lifted the lid.
Blue balloons rushed toward the ceiling.
For half a second, I simply watched them.
Then I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
A boy.
Blue balloons rushed toward the ceiling.
I was having a boy.
My mother reached me first and wrapped both arms around me.
People clapped. Somebody cried.
One of my friends shouted, “It’s a boy!” as though the balloons hadn’t already made that perfectly clear.
And for those few seconds, Rodney’s affair wasn’t the biggest thing in the room.
My son was.
Rodney’s affair wasn’t the biggest thing in the room.
When my mother released me, I saw Rodney.
He was smiling.
Not the smug smile he’d worn when Alice arrived. Something smaller. Almost stunned.
“A boy,” he said.
Then he started toward me.
I stepped sideways.
He was smiling.
Rodney stopped.
He looked at the space I’d made between us.
Then he stayed where he was.
***
The party didn’t last much longer.
People hugged me before leaving. Nobody offered Rodney advice within my hearing, which I appreciated.
The party didn’t last much longer.
Eventually, the room emptied enough that I could hear chairs being folded.
One blue balloon had drifted lower than the others.
I caught its ribbon and wrapped it loosely around my fingers.
Rodney approached carefully.
“Can I drive you home?”
“No.”
One blue balloon had drifted lower than the others.
“Can we talk tonight?”
“Not tonight.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
Then he asked, “What am I supposed to do?”
I looked at him.
“Start with telling the truth when nobody is forcing you to.”
“Can we talk tonight?”
He glanced toward the fireproof safe.
“I am sorry.”
“I heard you.”
That was all I could give him.
An employee from the venue came over as I picked up my purse.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes?”
She pointed toward the heavy box.
“Is that yours?”
“I am sorry.”
I looked at it.
Then at the blue balloon floating above my hand.
“No,” I said.
I nodded toward Rodney.
“That’s his.”
I walked toward the exit with the blue ribbon around my fingers.
Rodney stayed behind beside the box.
“That’s his.”
