“Mark, Im pregnant!” Emma blurted out the moment she walked through the front door, not giving her husband a second to guess what she meant. He froze, looked away and let out a sigh. “Well if thats how it turned out,” he muttered, planting a quick kiss on her cheek as if he were trying to dodge his own feelings.
Emma had first fallen for Mark back when she was still a university student. He was doing a placement at the firm where she was interningyoung, goodlooking, already a deputy team leadersomeone who seemed to belong in a different world. A modest girl from a small town, she never imagined hed even notice her. But on the last day of her placement he walked over, handed her a box of chocolates and asked if shed like to meet up that evening. And just like that, their story began.
On their first date he confessed hed grown up without his parents. His mother remarried and moved away, leaving him in his grandmothers care. Emma didnt mention that her own parents had never really taken an interest in her eitherher childhood was a long stretch of cold indifference, not a single warm memory. Both of them knew what loneliness felt like, and maybe thats why they clicked so fast.
A month later Emma moved into Marks rented flat in Shoreditch. Not long after that they tied the knotnothing fancy, just modest and hopeful. They dreamed of a future together, of a house of their own, of a quiet, settled life. The one thing that kept pulling them apart was the whole children subject. Emma had wanted a baby for ages, while Mark kept putting it off, Its fine for now, why rush? hed say.
When the pregnancy test showed two pink lines, Emma hesitated to tell him. She was scared of judgment, of criticism. Eventually she gathered the courage.
Are you happy were going to be parents? she asked.
I thought itd be later Mark replied, his disappointment plain as day.
He didnt even go to the first ultrasound; he waited in the car while Emma came back with tears of joy in her eyestwins. Two tiny heartbeats beating inside her.
Twins?! Mark went pale. That wasnt the plan. You need an abortion!
What are you talking about? I saw our babies I cant, Emma sobbed.
She hoped hed eventually understand, that the shock would wear off. But each day he drifted further away, started picking on her for gaining a bit of weight, saying shed lost her shape. She tried to ignore it, but after the babies were born things only got worse.
Lily and Roseher little twinsbecame the centre of her world. Mark, meanwhile, stayed at work longer, pulled away, and never helped out. Emma endured it allfor the kids, for love, for family.
When the girls turned one and a half, Emma mentioned going back to work. Mark sat opposite her, eyes on the floor, and said, Ive got someone else. Im leaving. I wont abandon the kids, but I want to be with her.
Emma was stunned. You swore youd never end up like your parents! she choked out.
He left. At first he still turned up now and then, then he vanished for good. Emma was left on her own, broke and without anyone to lean on. Return to the countryside? No jobs there. Stay in London? Plenty of work but nowhere to live.
Her boss stepped in, sorting a spot for her in a student hall. A tiny room, a bit of renovation, two babiesshe managed to scrape by. One afternoon, as she was wrestling the stroller into a narrow lane, a voice called out, Can I give you a hand? Im John, I live next door.
He helped without a word, then offered to lend a hand with the repairs. He started picking the twins up from nursery. At first Emma kept her distanceshe was scaredbut day by day John became a part of their lives.
He was an ordinary, reliable bloke. Hed been betrayed toohis wife left him for a friend when they found out they couldnt have kids. Now he had two little ones to love with all his heart.
When John proposed, Emma first said no. Ive got children. Youll find someone else.
I want to be with you. The kids arent a problem, theyre like my own, he said.
They got married, and a week later Mark showed up again.
Emma, Im sorry. I get it now. Lets start over he pleaded.
Its too late. Im married. My kids have a real dad now, she replied.
John stepped forward from the doorway. Meet him, thats my husband.
Mark glanced away, waved, and walked off for good.
A year passed. Emma and John bought a proper flat of their own. As for Mark she never heard from him again, and she didnt want to. Because true happiness isnt the one who promised you the world, its the one who actually stays.
