Michael stood tall beside me, his eyes scanning the people at the table — the same people who had just laughed at my life like it was a punchline. My cousin Emily stared at him, her jaw slightly clenched, her wine glass frozen midair.
Michael cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t planning on saying this tonight. I didn’t want drama. But since we’re handing out opinions on who deserves love… maybe the truth should be on the table too.”
Emily’s voice was sharp. “Michael, what are you doing?”
He looked directly at her. “You told me she was just your cousin. That she used to be wild, a single mom who made ‘mistakes.’ But you didn’t tell me the whole truth.”
He turned to me briefly, then back to the room. “What none of you know is that five years ago, I met someone. We talked for months. We clicked. But life happened. She disappeared — because she found out she was pregnant. And she was scared.”
The blood drained from Emily’s face.
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