Amanda, are you there? You want to invite me to your baby shower? Cynthia thinks it would show that we’re all adults about this situation, that there’s no hard feelings. No hard feelings. The man who destroyed her life, stolen her home, and rewritten their history, wanted to invite her to celebrate the baby he’d conceived immediately after leaving her because she couldn’t get pregnant.
I don’t think that’s a good idea, Austin. Look, I know it might be awkward, but I think it would be good for you. Show everyone that you’re moving on, that you’re not bitter about how things ended. Show everyone. Austin wanted her there as proof that his version of their story was true, that she was the one who’d accepted the end of their marriage gracefully because she was mentally unstable anyway.
Austin, I’m not coming to your baby shower. I really think you should reconsider. Cynthia’s already sent you an invitation. Then Cynthia can expect me to decline. Amanda, this is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re letting bitterness control your decisions instead of doing what’s healthy.
What’s healthy is me staying away from the man who destroyed my life. I didn’t destroy your life. Our marriage didn’t work out. That happens to people. Our marriage didn’t work out because you decided I was defective and found someone who wasn’t. Our marriage didn’t work out because we became incompatible. And the fact that you can’t accept that is exactly why I’m worried about you.
Austin was doing it again, making her sound crazy for being hurt by his betrayal. Send me the invitation, she said quietly. Really? Send me the invitation, Austin. I want to see it. Great. I think this will be really good for everyone. The invitation arrived 3 days later, addressed to Amanda Adabio in elegant script on expensive card stock.
The return address was Austin’s brother’s house, where Austin was apparently still pretending he lived alone. Inside in flowing calligraphy, it read, “You’re invited to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby Adabio. Join Austin and Cynthia as they prepare to welcome their little miracle.” Their little miracle. Austin and Cynthia were having their little miracle while she sat in an empty house, facing bankruptcy from fertility treatments that had been pointless anyway, about to be homeless because her husband had decided she was broken
goods. But as she stared at that invitation, something shifted inside her. For the first time in months, she wasn’t sad. She wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t confused about what had happened to her marriage. She was angry. And for the first time since Austin had walked out, she started thinking about what she really wanted her life to look like.
She spent 3 days staring at that baby shower invitation, reading and rereading those words, “Little miracle,” until they burned themselves into her brain. Austin and Cynthia’s little miracle conceived effortlessly while she’d spent 3 years believing her body was broken. On the fourth day, she decided to drive past Austin’s brother’s house again.
