Simon had been crushed. I was the one who stood by him, helped him regain his footing, and watched as he rose in his career. And in the end, I was the one he married.
Back then, we were deeply in love.
But after two years of marriage, I still had not gotten pregnant.
A hospital check-up confirmed my worst fear as we found it was my condition. I was infertile and would never be able to have children.
The news devastated me, but Simon held me close and reassured me.
“It’s all right, my love.”
“Not having children won’t change anything between us. These days, plenty of couples choose to be child-free. Just the two of us growing old together, that’s more than enough.”
Though Simon said he did not mind at all, I still could not shake the longing for a child. A home without children always felt incomplete to me.
At my insistence, we eventually went to an orphanage and adopted a baby girl who had been abandoned at birth.
We named her Cecilia Garland.
In the early years, Simon was a doting father and deeply involved in Cecilia’s life.
However, when Cecilia turned six, Simon’s affection for her noticeably faded. His once warm and attentive care became distant, his patience with her growing thin.