Divorce: My Unwritten Happy Ending

my perfect world ap

one. A notification from a celebrity gossip site, th

d up, was on the screen. She was smiling, but it wasn't her movie p

nd between them, holding both their hands, wa

on: "Chloe Davis's Secret Family?

had to be a mistake. A photoshop job. A desperate attempt for clicks. Chl

against the polished surface of m

you saw

cern, but with annoyance, as if I

Eleanor? Some kin

t a long,

man about this. We all

d dread cree

ld come? What are

and matter-of-fact. "You know you can't have children. We t

physical blow. You know

ialist. The carefully worded diagnosis of infertility. Chloe, holding my hand, telling me it didn't m

siness arrangement. A known fact.

ality tilted

aying?" I stammered, my

ence gone. "This is your chance to be a father. You should be grateful

iv

ity skyline blurring through the floor-to

s always. Her hair was flawless, her makeup subtle. She carried

y. She didn't look so

said. It wasn

I asked, my

said, setting her purse down.

as if she were intro

throat tight. "Our li

p this quiet. Alex and River will stay hidden. We can go on just like before. No one has to

e with, was a stranger. Her eyes, which I once thought held the universe, were cold and calculating. She wasn't talking

r. All I felt was a vast, empty coldness. The love I had for her,

ord clear and sharp

ed slight

etting a

en confusion, crossed her face. She wasn't devastated by

hint of her mother's impatience in her voice. "Why

rfect and mine were two very different things. M

built o