The Baby I Buried at Sea Novel – The headlines screaming “Wife Exposes Cale Corp CEO’s Affair” dominated the news cycle for barely a day. Then I released my statement. “Mr. Cale never cheated. I was the one clinging to a fantasy that was never real.” I delivered the words without inflection, as if I’d chosen every syllable myself. “Jealousy made me invent an affair between him and his secretary that never existed.
I owe Ms. Wale an apology.” The backlash came fast. [We believed your sob story this morning, and now you’re pulling this shit? You played us. Go to hell, you psycho bitch.] [Think we’re stupid? Get yourself committed, you fucking lunatic.] The notifications kept coming, each one sharper than the last, until my hands started shaking. “Happy now?” Harlan Cale smiled. “Look at that. You can be reasonable when you want to. It would’ve saved us both some trouble if you’d figured that out sooner.” “Since you’re finally behaving, I’ll even accompany you to your prenatal appointment with you.” “But I’m taking Megan to Frostholm tomorrow for the northern lights. She needs this right now.
Reschedule your appointment.” I hung up the phone. The nurse cleared her throat behind me to let me know they were ready for the procedure. Ten years. That was long enough. *** Earlier, I had driven to St. Jude’s Clinic, a place isolated in the middle of nowhere, its paint peeling and windows dark. Ten years ago, Harlan knelt beside my mother’s hospital bed and made his promises. “I’ll love Elara until the day I die. I’ll never let anyone hurt her.” Now I was back for an abortion. We’d buried a time capsule together beneath the oak tree behind the clinic.
The plan was to dig it up together when enough time had passed. Rust had eaten away at the metal, but the papers inside had survived. The first question was in Harlan’s bold, confident scrawl. [To my darling Elara, soon to be Mrs. Cale: how have we spent the last ten years?] The pet names stared back at me, mocking me. [Did he buy a ring?] He did. A sliver of a diamond that I’d worn for ten years, that I’d protected like it meant something. Megan Wale’s rock could have swallowed mine whole. [How is the company? Did we get married?] The company grew.
So did the number of women in his orbit. Every time I mentioned marriage, he found a way to change the subject. Ten years together. No marriage license. No wedding. [Do we have a baby?] We did, once. He came into the world already gone, his tiny body purple, silent before he could make a sound. I was pregnant again because Megan thought raising a child would be fun. Harlan explained that Megan was too focused on her career to ruin her figure or waste her time on pregnancy. My question came next.
[What matters most to you about us?] What would Harlan say? Trust, probably. That was always his answer whenever I questioned him. “Elara, you need to trust me. Nothing’s going on with Ms. Wale.” “Megan’s good at her job. Stop being paranoid. You have no idea how hard she’s had to work to get where she is.” I tried to believe him, tried to tell myself it was just work. But I’d seen the way they looked at each other. Their behavior was even harder to ignore. I still remember the morning of his first board meeting as CEO. I’d gotten up early to iron his shirt and picked out a sapphire blue tie. I was smoothing down the silk when Megan walked in, glanced at what I’d done, then held up a different tie. “This one’s better for today. More professional.” Harlan pulled loose the knot I’d made without a word. The blue silk slipped through his fingers.
He accepted Megan’s choice and turned to the mirror to knot it himself. Our eyes met in the reflection. He turned and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t take it personally. Megan knows how this world works. She’s been at this longer.” I looked down at the blue tie pooled in my palm. I hadn’t misunderstood anything.