Her voice sounded trembly—genuinely scared. I reached for the real phone to call Gayle. But my hand was shaking too violently to dial, and I realized suddenly that I was too devastated to speak.

Adrienne was pregnant.

Donald was the father.

Any minute now—tonight, tomorrow, the day after that—he would tell me that Adrienne was a different person, a new woman, that she’d changed her mind about not wanting children and that he was leaving me to marry her and have their baby.

The situation seemed somehow unreal: despite myself, I had believed in Donald. I had loved him deeply and believed that he had loved me. For all my doubt and distrust, I had never truly thought that any of my suspicions would ever be confirmed.

I walked the floors of the house like a ghost; floating from room to room, silently, touching nothing, barely breathing. An hour must have passed; maybe two—it was already starting to get dark when Donald called, from a pay phone at the gym. I let his call go through to voicemail, too, and then I listened to it: he’d retrieved a message off his cell phone and had to take care of something unexpectedly. He’d be at least a few hours; he’d check in with me later and let me know when he might be home.

Might be home.

Eventually, my hand steadied; I called Gayle, told her the news.

“But what makes you so sure they will actually have the baby? I mean, maybe they won’t. Didn’t Donald tell you that Adrienne didn’t want children? Maybe she’ll have an abortion. Donald would then beg your forgiveness, and things between you could go back to normal.”

I didn’t answer. Things could never go back to normal.

“Listen,” she started, but before she could get out whatever harebrained plan she had instantly come up with, I cut her off. My bile was rising; shock and devastation were giving way to hatred and rage. It was my turn to call the shots here. But then I found that I was crying.

“No, you listen. We’re going over there together, you and me, and I’m going to end this charade once and for all. I’m going to expose them, let them know that I know their little secret before they can blindside me with it.”

Gayle was silent; nervous, I knew. I’m not sure she had ever known me to cry before.