The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Chapter 10

I stared at Steven in disbelief.

He quickly handed me the test results. He was clearly looking forward to the arrival of this new life. "You suddenly fainted last night. I was so scared. The doctor ran some tests and found out you're pregnant.

"But with all the stress you've been under lately, your emotions have been unstable, and the baby is at risk. You'll need to stay in the hospital for a while to stabilize the pregnancy."

I took the paper from him. The moment I saw the image of the tiny, unformed life, I couldn't look away. The sight of it brought a small sense of comfort to my shattered heart. Gently, I placed a hand over my abdomen, my mind swirling with thoughts.

Growing up in a single-parent household after my father passed away, I didn't want my child to go through the same.

"Steven," I said, breaking the silence.

He looked at me, confused. "Yes?"

I lifted my gaze and felt a new resolve. "I'm willing to move past everything that's happened. For the sake of this child, let's try to be the way we were before. Can we do that?" Steven met my eyes, then nodded. "Yes."

He then took out a small velvet box. "Honey." His expression was slightly nervous as he opened it to reveal a pair of lily-shaped earrings.

I was surprised. He rarely gave me gifts since we got married. "What's this?"

"It's a present for you," he replied, his voice a bit tense.

"Thank you." I accepted it.

Despite everything that had happened over the past few days, the little life growing inside me gave me a glimmer of happiness.

Just then, Steven's phone rang, and he said he had to leave for work. After a quick kiss, he left the room.

I gently touched my stomach, feeling a sense of tenderness.

At this moment, my phone pinged with a notification. I opened it absentmindedly. It was a message from Zachary-an image of Jessica's Instagram post.

I tapped on it and saw the caption read, "Thank you, Mr. Pelham, for the diamond ring this morning. By the way, the jewelry store has terrible taste. They threw in these ugly lily-shaped earrings as a freebie. They looked so cheap, so I told Mr. Pelham to toss them." The photo was a selfie of Jessica. What caught the eye most was her hand resting against her cheek, with a massive diamond ring on her ring finger.

cut, and even in the picture, the diamond sparkled

Steven had kissed me

husband wasn't worried about me. Instead, he was buying an

tried to placate me with the cheap

so little

easy to appease and that I would be grateful for her

despair crashed over

hurting me like this and then use empty words to pull me

lip, I felt

snapping me out

I answered, "Hello?"

Mommy. Can you come

had already hurt himself yesterday. Worried that his emotions might spiral and he'd do something foolish again, I immediately got up and said, "I'll come right now.

spotted him standing on the stairs. The sunlight from the window

he had done so many things to

crouched down in front of

Daddy doesn't love you,

was Jessica telling him

be mad at me because of what I did. And when you have another

child, and when faced with problems, he didn't know

son. No matter what, I will always love you, even

gone, Daddy would only love me, and he'd listen to me

sent a chill down

had

ward and have a proper talk. He shouldn't be dragged into adult

step, I felt

Mommy. Mommy Jessie poured oil on the stairs. She told me

body, making it nearly unbearable, while my heart felt as if it was being torn apart. My mind spun in a

recently, I understood he was just a child, and I

have some compassion. Yet, he seemed so indifferent to

eyes to see Zachary. Through the haze, I saw a blurry figure running down