He's My Husband

THREE

                Max hadn't noticed he was following her until he stopped outside the kitchen. That little display of affection had really gotten to him. It was clear as day that Zander was his son. Aside from being his carbon copy, the boy also loved chocolate chip cookies. They were his weakness and he'd told Emilia that before marrying her. He remembered how she'd laughed, saying that it wasn't manly and that he shouldn't mention it to anyone else.

Was that it? Had she told her son to say the cookies were his favorite? Had it all been a show? No. Zander, as she called him, looked exactly like him. He was his son. More than anything Max wanted him to be his son. The feeling was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. When Emilia had told him she was pregnant, he'd been over the moon. Finally he was going to be a father, something he'd longed for since his own father passed away.

He'd looked after his siblings as if they were his children but deep down he'd always wanted to have his own kids. The day his wife had left him, he'd been abroad on business. Gwen had called him crying hysterically while trying to tell him that his wife had ran away after pushing their mother down the stairs. He had packed his things and flown home immediately. He had been in denial for so long, refusing to accept that his wife could do something like that.

For days he'd stayed at the hospital praying she would come back and explain what had happened. But then a mail had arrived with an ultrasound sound and medical bills. For abortion. As if that wasn't enough, the doctor had told him his mother would never be able to walk again. That was the darkest moment of his life. He would have done something stupid were it not for Darren. He had lived for his family knowing without them, he'd be nothing. But now Emilia was back, telling him, no, presenting him with a son he thought he'd lost.

How was he supposed to feel? Angry that she'd kept him away for so long? Relieved that she hadn't had an abortion? Happy to see her again? It was all too much at once. All of it was just... he couldn't handle it. That is why he'd stopped when he heard them laughing in the kitchen. His little boy already knew how to take responsibility. He'd promised to look after Mel while his mother took a shower and all he could think about was how much he'd missed.

The day he was born, his first cry, laugh, the day he learned to walk, talk. He'd missed so much and it was all his fault. He shouldn't have stopped looking for her. Even after he'd received those medical bills, he should have kept searching. Maybe then, he wouldn't have missed the first eight years of his son's life. But Emilia had left him. She'd left him and made sure to take her revenge before she left.

He knew his mother didn't like her but she shouldn't have pushed her down the stairs. At the end of the day, she was still his mother even though she hadn't approved of his wife. They'd fought nonstop. Genevieve had wanted him to marry Lisandra claiming that she was the right woman for him. Coming home with Emilia, a simple girl from a small town had sparked her anger. He wasn't blind to how they treated her.

Some nights he came home to his wife locked in their bedroom crying her eyes out. He'd talk to his mother and tell her to treat Emilia like her daughter in law but then Genevieve would start ranting about how disappointed his father would be because he married a nobody and he'd end up leaving her alone. He thought that with time, they'd learn to accept her. Maybe even see what a kind person she was.

That had clearly been his mistake. Not insisting that his mother and sister try to get along with his wife. He should have moved out. Bought a house for his wife where she would have been happy. Maybe then he wouldn't have been away from his son for so long. Fuck! Even after everything she'd done he was defending her. His mother was in a wheelchair and Max was defending Emilia. The woman who'd put his mother in that same wheelchair. What was wrong with him?