When Lily finds out that her sister-in-law, Amanda, is pregnant at the same time as her, she is overjoyed at the thought of their children growing up together. But then she sees Amanda with a flat belly, and suddenly, everything changes.
My brother, Seth, had a whirlwind romance with Amanda, leaving my entire family breathless.
One day, he told me that he had met someone, and three months later, he had proposed to her.
We all welcomed her into our family because, although it was quick, she seemed to fit into our lives.
Not long after their wedding, I discovered that I was pregnant — and the news was met with double joy because Amanda announced that she was pregnant, too.
“Maybe that’s why they got married so quickly,” Jordan, my husband, chuckled.
“Maybe,” I agreed. “But I love the idea that the babies will grow up together. They’ll be siblings!”
As weeks turned into months, and my anticipation grew along with my belly, Amanda and I grew closer. I was jealous of her — her pregnant belly was perfectly round, and she didn’t seem to gain weight anywhere else.
She complained about swollen ankles, nausea, and backache but looked as radiant as ever.
“It’s just not fair,” I complained to my husband, digging into a Danish he had picked up for me.
“What’s not fair?” he asked, amused.
“That Amanda looks like a movie star. You know, always perfect, with a perfect little bun baking in her tummy.”
Jordan just laughed at me.
But then I began to get suspicious of her. Seth and Jordan wanted to go out for sushi, so we all did. I ordered chow mein because sushi was a major no for pregnant women. But Amanda didn’t seem to abide by that rule and helped herself to a piece of Seth’s.
“Maybe she’s just not that strict about her diet,” my mother said when I called to tell her about it.
So, I brushed it off, thinking it wasn’t my place to question anything.
But then things took a turn.
I shuffled down the corridor to my doctor, ready for a check-up and eager to hear my baby’s heartbeat, when I saw Amanda chatting to her doctor, her belly miraculously flat.
I followed Amanda as she and the doctor walked to his office. When her telltale giggle escaped her lips, I knew it was Amanda for sure.
I postponed my appointment and then went to my brother’s office. I struggled to contain my emotions as I delicately broached the subject of Amanda’s pregnancy.
But Seth’s confusion mirrored my own.
“Lily, are you sure it was Amanda?” he asked, hanging onto my every word.
I nodded. I knew what I had seen.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered, his voice tinged with disbelief.
I took a sip of water from my bottle, my baby kicking up a storm because of how worked up I was.
“The inheritance,” Seth blurted out. “It must be that.”
The only conclusion that Seth could come to was our father’s inheritance. In his will, our father had stipulated that every child would be taken care of financially until they were twenty-one.
“But wouldn’t you know whether Amanda is pregnant or not?” I asked him, unable to believe it.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” he said, shaking his head. “After about the third month, Amanda moved to the guest room, saying she needed the extra space to sleep. And that she couldn’t bear to be held anymore.”
“And you believed her?” I asked. “You’ve got to get to the bottom of this.”
Seth promised me that he would do exactly that.
Later that day, Seth came over and sat with Jordan and me.
“Pour me a drink, please,” he said.
He was utterly devastated.
It turned out that Amanda had pretended to be pregnant the entire time. But the best part was that her sister was pregnant — and she didn’t intend to keep the baby because she wanted to study abroad.
Amanda and her sister had devised their plan: Amanda would fake her pregnancy, and then she would take her sister’s baby as her own. The doctor was in on the secret and would do all the paperwork in their favor.
“I don’t know what to do,” Seth said, gulping his whiskey down.
“Do you think she’s in it for the money? Or do you think she genuinely wanted to do right by Laura’s baby?” Jordan asked.
Seth shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t fault her for wanting to take care of the baby — it was either that or Laura was going to give the baby up for adoption.”
Seth spent the night with us, unable to face Amanda without a way forward.
I couldn’t help but feel justified in my envy for how perfect Amanda looked throughout the pregnancy — it had been a fake bump.
In the end, Seth forgave Amanda. He said that he couldn’t understand why she didn’t tell him the truth and that if she had — he would have been on board with adopting the baby, too.
The inheritance applied to all our children — biological and adopted.
Jordan and I think Seth did the right thing — helping give the baby a loving home. But I think that Amanda broke his trust, so I don’t know how they will repair that.
For now, I’ll continue to have my cravings and do up the nursery for my baby. In a few weeks, she’ll be here, and we’ll have to see how the rest of Seth and Amanda’s relationship unfolds.
Hopefully, having a newborn in their lives will make up for Amanda’s deceit and help them heal.
What would you have done in Seth’s shoes?