Life Of A Single Mom

Chapter 12

A couple more days passed before I finally heard from John.
Of course he came with excuse after excuse about why he disappeared. But honestly, I expected it. That was just who John was. He always knew how to come back around right when I started detaching emotionally.
He wanted to meet up and talk things through, but by then I was over it.
I didn’t want to hear his excuses. Didn’t want to see him. Didn’t want another smooth apology pulling me back into confusion.
At the same time, things between me and Will were getting rocky again too, and mentally I was exhausted. It felt like every relationship in my life came with stress attached to it.
Eventually, I just stopped talking to everybody altogether.
No calls. No dates. No entertaining anybody.
I isolated myself for the rest of my pregnancy because I was tired of lies, disappointment, and empty promises. The stress had gotten so heavy I could literally feel myself slipping into depression.
And the crazy part?
Life didn’t stop just because I was struggling.
By January, my due date was getting closer and closer. I had stopped working, bills were piling up, and responsibilities kept crashing into me nonstop. Some days I honestly didn’t know how I was going to make it.
But one thing about me — before anything else, I was a mother.
So pregnant, tired, swollen, and emotionally drained, I still got up every day and did what I had to do for my kids. I pushed myself until my body literally couldn’t anymore.
Then out of nowhere, Will reached back out to check on me.
At first I ignored him for days.
Part of me still loved him deeply, but another part of me knew every conversation with him reopened wounds I was trying hard to heal from.
Eventually, I gave in and called him back.
And baby…
that phone call shattered me.
Will told me he had another baby on the way.
I swear my whole world went silent after that.
He said he didn’t want to be there for one child and not the other. Said he felt bad about how things ended between us. But honestly, after hearing those words, I barely processed anything else.
I just hung up and cried.
Not because we were together — because we weren’t.
But because despite everything, I still loved that man. The type of love where you’d break your back for somebody even after they hurt you repeatedly.
And realizing he had fully moved on while I was still carrying pieces of him in my heart?
That pain hit differently.
I felt betrayed. Embarrassed. Disappointed in myself.
Because how could I still love somebody who gave me every reason to let go and never look back?
Yet there I was… pregnant and crying over him anyway.
Later that same day, I got a random Facebook message from a woman I didn’t recognize.
Come to find out…
it was Will’s other child’s mother.
Now most women would’ve immediately gotten defensive, but surprisingly, her energy was calm from the beginning. She introduced herself respectfully and asked if I’d be open to exchanging numbers since there was a possibility our children would be siblings.
And honestly?
I respected that.
At the end of the day, the situation wasn’t her fault any more than it was mine. We were both women caught in the middle of Will’s decisions.
So I agreed.
After talking for a while, I realized she was actually cool. Very laid-back, mature, easy to talk to. Weirdly enough, we had a lot in common.
Life works funny sometimes.
The woman I expected to dislike ended up feeling easier to talk to than the man we both shared history with.
We eventually agreed to meet in person after I had the baby since by then I was getting close to my due date and the doctors already had me on strict restrictions.
And honestly, at that point, I was just trying to survive one day at a time.