There they were.
My husband and my mother. Together.
Half-dressed. Startled. Scrambling to cover themselves like teenagers caught sneaking around.
“Mia, wait, it’s not—” Adam’s voice cracked as he reached for his shirt.
But the excuses were just air — empty words floating in a room that suddenly felt too small and too bright. I couldn’t breathe. I just ran.
I don’t remember making it down the hallway or stumbling into the living room where my siblings and father were sitting around the tree. What followed was a blur of shouting and tears.
Family members rushed toward the commotion, their faces shifting from confusion to horror as they pieced together what had happened.
But the worst blow came when my mother appeared in the doorway, wrapped in Adam’s jacket, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered.
The room went silent. And then, unbelievably, impossibly, my relatives turned to me.
My sister spoke first. “Mia, she’s pregnant. She needs support right now.”
My brother nodded. “It was a mistake, but she’s still family.”
My father wouldn’t even look at me. “You’re young. You can find someone else.”
My aunt actually touched my shoulder and said, “Mia, please don’t make Christmas about drama.”
I watched, frozen and shaking, as my own siblings moved past me to hug my mom. Adam stood behind her, crying real tears, saying he had “confused feelings” and didn’t know how it happened. My mother sobbed into my sister’s shoulder while everyone comforted her like she was the victim.
I stood there in my ugly Christmas sweater with reindeer on it, broken and shaking, realizing that the people I loved were more concerned for the woman who destroyed my life than for the daughter who had just been stabbed in the heart.
Nobody asked if I was okay. Nobody told her that what she did was unforgivable. Nobody chose me.
That night, I left the house alone, walking through the falling snow to my car. My hands trembled so badly I could barely get the key in the ignition. But I wasn’t done with them. Not even close.
Continue reading on the next page 👇
