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On Our Anniversary, He Bought Her Diamonds. I Bought a One-Way Ticket
Novelix
new
Completed
On our seventh anniversary, my husband bought an entire jewelry collection for our daughter’s preschool teacher. Nothing for me.Ever since Sienna “saved” Poppy from a kidnapping, my daughter wants her as her new mom. And my husband agrees.Then I lost our baby. Declan was so busy fussing over Sienna’s sprained wrist that he signed my surgery consent without looking. He signed our divorce papers, too.Then the police showed me the truth: there was never a kidnapping.So I took a one-way flight to Paris.Now Declan is begging me to come home. Too late.
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
On our seventh wedding anniversary, my husband bought out an entire jewelry counter—for our daughter’s preschool teacher.
Ever since the "kidnapping," Poppy won’t let go of Sienna Blake, the private preschool teacher who saved her.
She wants Sienna to hold her. She wants Sienna to eat lunch with her.
She wants Sienna to be her new mom.
And my husband, Declan, gets a call from Sienna every single day.
"Mr. Ward, Poppy’s asking if I can take her out to dinner."
"Declan, she’s been so quiet lately. Is her mom being hard on her again?"
"Dec, she’s coming down with a little cold. Don’t forget to pick up some medicine."
By the time I realize how wrong Sienna sounds, I realize something else too.
Declan used to complain to me about her calling all the time. He hasn’t in ages.
When I bring it up, he brushes me off. "Sienna’s just looking out for Poppy. Don’t read into it."
He drops a pile of shopping bags on the floor. He bought the jeweler’s entire couples’ collection. "It’s Teacher Appreciation Day. She deserves something big."
Poppy’s still shaken from the "kidnapping." For her, I can bend. And bend. And keep bending.
But not for Declan.
"Where’s my gift?" I ask quietly.
Declan frowns. "You want a Teacher Appreciation gift? Ask your students’ parents. Why are you asking me?"
He forgot. Today isn’t just Teacher Appreciation Day.
It’s our seventh wedding anniversary.
Back then, he swore he’d save up and buy me a real diamond ring.
Now there are little velvet jewelry boxes scattered all over the floor, and not one of them holds my ring.
I’ve waited seven years. Way too long.
So long I forgot I was allowed to walk away.
I wait up until midnight.
It’s May 7th now. Our anniversary is over.
Declan still isn’t home.
I open Sienna’s Instagram again.
Four hours ago, she posted a photo. Declan and Poppy are both grinning, and the location tag makes my eyes sting. It’s a couples’ restaurant downtown.
[Teaching is hard. So lucky to have you two by my side. 💕]
The comments are nothing but hearts and envy.
[Your husband and your little girl are SO sweet to you!]
Yeah. So sweet.
I can’t remember the last time Declan took me out to dinner.
Or the last time Poppy smiled at me.
I stare at the photo. The three of them look like the real family.
My phone rings.
Mom sounds giddy. "So? Did you tell him? What did Dec say?"
"I didn’t call earlier because I didn’t want to interrupt your celebration. Another baby! Is he over the moon?"
I touch my stomach. This was supposed to be my surprise for Declan today.
But he never came home.
"Mom, Declan’s… not home yet."
I force a smile. "He took Poppy out to dinner with her teacher."
The line goes quiet.
I look down. "Don’t tell him about the baby. Not yet."
Mom asks carefully, "Honey, what are you going to do about Declan?"
I don’t have an answer for that.
Declan gets home close to one.
Poppy’s asleep on his shoulder, still smiling.
"Why are you still up?"
He tucks her into bed. When he sees me still on the couch, he frowns. "What now? I told you this morning we were going out."
My heart sinks.
This morning, he said he was taking Poppy out to celebrate Sienna.
I thought it was a cover story. That he was secretly planning something for me.
Turns out he really forgot. Completely.
I look up. "Declan, where’s my gift?"
"Go ask your students’ parents for gifts. Why are you asking me?"
"You really forgot?" My voice is soft.
He stops at the bathroom door and turns around.
His face is blank, like I’m bringing up something that doesn’t matter.
"I didn’t forget. Seventh anniversary."
My heart leaps. I look up at him.
His voice goes even colder.
"I remembered, Elise. I just don’t think it’s worth celebrating."
"Poppy wanted to have dinner with Sienna. Sienna saved her life, and it’s Teacher Appreciation Day. I know what my priorities are."
Seven years together, and I’m not even one of his priorities.
Seven years ago today, we get married.
He said, "Lise, I want every single one of your days to be mine."
"Even Teacher Appreciation Day. You’re spending it with me."
He’s the one who made that promise. And he’s the one who broke it.
The color drains from my face. I crush the ultrasound photo in my fist and tear it to pieces.
Declan glances over. "What’s that?"
I don’t look up. I keep my voice light. "Nothing."
"Just a surprise I had for you. Doesn’t matter now. Don’t worry, you’ll never have to know about it."
Chapter 2
Early pregnancy has me sleeping like the dead.
Poppy’s crying is what wakes me up.
Her voice is shrill. "Daddy, you spoil Mommy too much! That’s why she’s so lazy!"
"She almost got me killed!"
"She’s a bad mommy! I don’t want her! I want Miss Sienna to be my new mommy!"
Every word from the living room cuts straight through me.
Last month, I went to pick Poppy up from preschool.
I was a few minutes late, and she was gone.
For those few hours, my whole world fell apart.
Declan and I searched half the city. In the end, Sienna showed up out of nowhere with Poppy in her arms.
And the so-called kidnapper was never caught.
Since then, Poppy’s shut me out completely.
"It’s Mommy’s fault for being late! The bad man took me because of her! If it weren’t for Miss Sienna, I’d be dead!"
At first, Declan tried to comfort me.
He said she was little, and I shouldn’t take it personally.
Then, little by little, he stopped looking at me. "She’s not wrong. If it weren’t for you, none of this would’ve happened."
"Of course she’s attached to Sienna. Stop being so dramatic."
For Poppy’s sake, I kept backing down.
I push back the covers and pad barefoot to the bedroom door.
In the living room, Declan’s voice is gentle. "Be a good girl, and Memorial Day weekend I’ll take you and Miss Sienna to the beach."
"Not Mommy."
"Nope," Declan says. "Not Mommy. She’d just ruin it."
Poppy catches my eye over his shoulder and smirks.
They walk out the door without a single word to me.
I stand barefoot on the cold floor. The woman in the mirror looks wrecked. Her lips are bloodless.
When I get to the conservatory, my department chair does a double take. "Are you feeling okay? You’re white as a ghost."
So it’s that obvious.
And yet nobody at home has noticed.
Not once has anyone there asked if I’m okay.
She hands me a folder. "The Paris fellowship I told you about. Two years. Think about it again. Seriously."
"You’re the best violinist in this department. Turn it down this time, and it won’t come around again."
I’ve turned it down more times than I can count, for Declan and Poppy.
But this time, I don’t know why, I take the folder.
"I’ll think about it."
Halfway through class, my phone rings.
Poppy’s sobbing on the other end. "Mommy, help me!"
My blood runs cold.
"Poppy? Poppy?!"
The line goes dead.
I don’t stop to tell anyone. I sprint to my car and floor it toward the preschool.
I call Declan again and again.
He never picks up.
The terror from a month ago swallows me whole.
I drive like my own life doesn’t matter. I clip one guardrail, then another, and I don’t slow down.
I burst through the preschool door.
Poppy’s curled up in Sienna’s lap, giggling.
"See, Miss Sienna? I told you she’d come running. I bet she crashed on the way here."
"Too bad she didn’t die. Then you could be my new mommy."
I freeze. I can’t believe those words just came out of my daughter’s mouth.
Sienna pulls Poppy closer. "Mrs. Ward, please don’t be upset. It was just a little drill."
"So next time something happens, maybe you won’t be so careless."
I storm toward them. "You ran a drill without telling the parents?!"
Sienna shrieks. Poppy bursts into tears.
"Mommy’s gone crazy!"
The next second, someone shoves me hard into the wall.
Pain rips through my side and down into my stomach.
The blood drains from my face. Then I feel something warm trickle down my legs.
Chapter 3
Declan plants himself in front of the two of them and glares at me. "It’s a standard family safety drill. What the hell is wrong with you?"
Then his eyes drop.
"Elise… why are you bleeding?"
Before I can answer, Sienna cries out. "Ow! It hurts!"
She clutches her wrist, tears spilling over. "Dec, don’t be mad at her. Mrs. Ward was just worried about Poppy."
Poppy looks up at him, panicked. "Daddy! Miss Sienna got hurt protecting me from Mommy!"
Declan’s head snaps toward Sienna. His brows knit together. "I’m taking you to the ER."
And just like that, the three of them are gone.
I’m left curled up against the wall, blood running down my legs.
In the end, it’s the security guard at the front desk who can’t stand to watch anymore and calls 911 for me.
A woman passing by shakes her head at me. "Did you see that guy? Now that’s the kind of man you marry. His wife barely twists her wrist and he loses his mind."
"And look at you, all banged up and nobody here with you. Where’s your husband?"
I stare at the door Declan just walked out of.
A bitter laugh slips out. "He’s dead."
At the hospital, the doctor examines me, and her face falls. "You’re miscarrying. You’ve lost too much blood."
"I’m so sorry. We can’t save the baby. You need a D&C right away."
My hand goes to my stomach. To the baby I never even got to tell him about.
"We’ll have to put you under,” she says gently. “We need a family member to sign the consent form."
Declan brought Sienna to this same hospital. Her ER bay is just down the hall.
I grit my teeth through the pain and go looking for him.
Sienna only sprained her wrist, but Declan and Poppy are hovering over her like she’s been shot.
I walk up, white as a sheet. "Declan… the doctor needs you to sign something—"
Sienna cuts me off. "Elise, I know Dec hasn’t had much time for you lately. But following us all the way to the hospital? That’s a little sad."
"I get hurt, and suddenly you’re hurt too? It was just a little bump against the wall."
Poppy pouts. "She’s faking! She was being mean to Miss Sienna, and now she wants everyone to feel sorry for her!"
"She just wants attention!"
Declan snatches the papers out of my hand without a word.
He doesn’t read them. He just signs.
"Quit acting like a child. Sienna’s actually hurt. We don’t have time for this."
"Go home."
My chest feels like it’s full of needles.
When I had Poppy, I was in labor for a whole day and night before they rushed me in for an emergency C-section.
By the end, I didn’t even have the strength to scream.
Declan knelt by my bed, sobbing.
"Babe, I swear I’ll never let you hurt like this again."
Now he’s tossed two signed papers on the table. One is my surgery consent.
The other is the divorce agreement I’d tucked underneath it.
His eyes never leave Sienna.
He has no idea what he just signed.
I pick up both papers. It hurts like hell, but for the first time in years, I can breathe.
I turn around and walk back down the hall to get prepped for surgery. Alone.
Two hours later, they wheel me out.
My stomach feels hollow. Somehow, it hurts less than I expected.
I’m on my way out of the hospital when a detective calls.
"Mrs. Ward, our tech team managed to recover the preschool’s security footage from last month. You… might want to come see this for yourself."
My heart drops. I race to the police station.
Poppy’s case went cold weeks ago. Now, finally, there’s a lead.
