Watching him from the kitchen doorway filled me with happiness.
Tonight, I thought, I’m about to make him the happiest man alive.
I tapped my fork gently against a wine glass, and the room slowly quieted.
Forty faces turned toward me.
Daniel stepped beside me and wrapped his arm around my waist, smiling with curious warmth.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said nervously. “Some of you traveled really far, and I promise there’s a good reason.”
I looked up at Daniel.
“We’re going to have a baby.”
For a second, the room exploded with joy. My mother shrieked with happiness. My father clapped loudly. Lena jumped up and down shouting that she already knew.
People hugged and cried.
The room was overflowing with love.
I turned to Daniel, expecting him to spin me around or kiss me.
Instead, his arm dropped.
His face went pale.
“Daniel?” I said softly. “Aren’t you happy?”
The slap came out of nowhere.
The force sent me crashing backward into the gift table. Pain burst across my cheek as if my skin had been burned.
Music continued playing for a few seconds before someone turned it off.
Then the room fell silent.
I looked up from the floor at my husband—and barely recognized the man staring back.