My BFF’s “Gift” for My Daughter? She’s Pregnant With MY Husband’s Baby! Chapter 01
My best friend slapped a pregnancy test on my daughter’s birthday cake.
Two pink lines.
“Annie, baby—guess what? Auntie’s giving you a little brother. I’m pregnant. With your daddy.”
I looked at my husband. Major General Grayson Hart.
He didn’t even flinch.
“That milk I make you every night? Yeah, I’ve been slipping you sleeping pills.” His voice was dead calm.
“Claire screams pretty damn loud when we’re in bed. Right next to you. You never heard shit.”
My hands went cold.
Annie tore open her next present—divorce papers.
Claire grinned. “So? You like it?”
Everyone stared.
I grabbed the pen.
Signed.
“Get the hell out.”
The second I signed, Grayson’s face went white.
“Natalie—what the hell? Claire was joking. Those papers aren’t real.”
“Joking?”
My voice came out flat.
“You drafted divorce papers. Signed them. Had her gift-wrap them for our daughter’s first birthday.”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Am I supposed to think that’s funny?”
Claire waved her hand.
“Oh my God, Nat. It was Truth or Dare at Jake’s bar last week. Grayson lost the game. We all thought it’d be hilarious.”
She reached for the papers.
“Here—I’ll just rip them up. See? No harm done.”
Grayson rubbed his temples.
“Jesus, Natalie. It was a stupid joke. Why are you being like this? I’ll tear them up myself if that’s what you want.”
“Stop.”
Something in my chest cracked open.
“It’s always a joke with you two.”
When we got married, Claire flushed my engagement ring down the toilet. Cut up my wedding dress with kitchen scissors.
Just a prank, babe.
When I was seven months pregnant, she “accidentally” spilled dish soap across the kitchen floor.
I slipped.
Annie came two months early.
She didn’t mean it.
Last month, she stuck a dead squirrel in Annie’s crib while I was out buying groceries.
My daughter screamed for hours. Ran a fever for three days straight.
Claire’s just got a weird sense of humor.
And now—on my daughter’s first birthday—he’s still calling it a joke.
I looked Grayson dead in the eye.
“What if I dropped rat poison in her mimosa right now? Would that be funny?”
His hand shot out.
Knocked the champagne flute clean out of Claire’s hand before she could blink.
Crash.
Glass shattered everywhere. A shard sliced into my ankle.
Blood spread across the floor.
Grayson didn’t even look at me.
He was too busy checking Claire’s hands for cuts.
I felt nothing.
I shoved the papers against his chest.
Picked up Annie.
Walked toward the door.
“I’ll be at the county clerk’s office tomorrow. Nine a.m.”
He grabbed my wrist before I could leave.
“What’s your problem? You know how Claire is. She’s loud. She doesn’t think. That’s just who she’s always been.”
When I didn’t answer, his voice softened.
“Look—I’ll tell her to tone it down, okay? Will that work?”
He still didn’t get it.
This wasn’t anger.
This was done.
“You do remember this is Annie’s birthday party, right?”
I yanked my arm back.
“Not your engagement party with Claire?”
I stared at him.
“Because honestly? The matching outfits. The inside jokes. The way you two finish each other’s sentences.”
My voice dropped.
“People probably think she’s your wife and I’m the babysitter.”
I searched his face for guilt. Regret. Anything.
Nothing.
Just: “We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. She’s like my sister. You’re seriously gonna be jealous of that?”
“Sister.”
I glanced at the bruise on his collarbone. The one he said came from the gym.
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Natalie!”
Claire’s voice cracked behind me.
Tears were already streaming down her face.
“I came here to celebrate your daughter, and you’re gonna accuse me of—of what? Sleeping with your husband?”
She whipped around to face Grayson.
Held up her phone.
“You know what? I’m done. I’m blocking you. Right now.”
She tapped the screen.
Showed it to both of us.
“There. Now Little Miss Perfect can stop acting like I’m trying to wreck her precious marriage.”
