Ex-Husband’s Regret by Evelyn M.M

I just nod my head. Gritting my molars against the frustration I was currently feeling.

As always, a mother knows when something is right. When her child is struggling.

“Is something wrong?” she asks frowning.

I’m not a heart to heart man but for a fucking moment I think of talking to her. I stop

myself

though because how can I?

How can I tell her that the woman we’ve spent almost a decade hating, now has me all

tied up in

knots? That she’s all I think about almost every second of the day.

How can I tell her that if Ava hadn’t pushed me away, I would have probably fucked her in

the

changing room? That it wouldn’t have been enough and I would have taken her back to

my home

and started all over again?

“Is this about the article?” her question pulls me from my daydreaming.

“What article?”

She straightens and picks her phone from the table. She scrolls through it, taps on

something and

then hands it to me. I take a seat as I look at the article that was published about an hour

ago.

[Rowan Wood caught on camera with ex–wife Ava Sharp while entering a mom and baby

shop.

Could the divorced couple be expecting their second child? Stay tuned as we gather more

information on whether Ava is truly pregnant and if she is, when it happened given they’ve

been

215

I curse. My hands folding into fists.

+15 BONUS

From what I know, only four people knew that Ava was pregnant. She was going to lose it

when

she finds out about the article.

I place mom’s phone down and take my own. Dialing the number of my one of my

contacts in the

entertainment industry. I wait for her to pick up.

“Sir?” she picks up on the first ring.

“There is a new article about me and Ava circulating, I want it taken down” I growl, fueled

by

anger.

“I see it, give me ten minutes”

“Also let it be known that if anyone is caught writing articles about Ava’s private life,

they’ll face

bankruptcy”

“Yes sir”

I cut of the phone, still fuming.

Ava has always been a private person. I was going to protect her privacy at all coast. It

doesn’t

matter what it takes.

“What’s going on between you and Ava, Ro?” mom asks after her while. Her gaze piercing

mine as

if she was trying to find the answers by staring deep into my soul.

I was glad she didn’t ask if the pregnancy rumor was true. That wasn’t my secret to tell

and I

wouldn’t even have told her.

“I don’t know” I answer her in frustration.

“Kate tells me that you’ve been distant with Emma. Emma told her that you broke things

off and

won’t even talk to her. Is this because of Ava?”

I think of lying to her, but what would be the use?

“Partly”

I hear her sharp intake of air. I don’t look at her. Afraid of what I’ll see in her eyes.

3/5

+15 BONUS

“Did you know that Ava wasn’t Kate and James‘ daughter?” I ask when she doesn’t say

anything

for a long time.

“Yes”

“Is that the reason you hated her?”

“No” she says, surprising me. “I hated her because she took your happiness away. She

took your light away. You loved Emma so much and because of her obsession, you lost her.

You don’t know how painful it was for me to watch my son living like a zombie. It was like

when you lost Emma you died, Rowan. We didn’t get you back until Noah was born and

even then, you didn’t come back

to us fully” U

I shake my head. I don’t want to remember how I was drowning back then. I was basically

a dead

man living. It was the worst period of my fucking life.

“You hated her back then, but I see that has changed. I spent almost thirty minutes

looking at the

pictures of you two standing outside that store. You stared at her in awe. You looked at her

like

she was your world. You looked at her like you were in love with her”

I face my mother. Staring at her in shock. She had to be wrong some 3

“Gabe found out she didn’t lie when she said she was drunk. He was able to get the

footages of that

night” I whisper, trying to change the subject.

It still sits heavily in my heart knowing what I did to Ava. All the fucking pain I caused her.

She

took it all until she couldn’t anymore. Until she finally had enough and kicked us out of her

life.

“Then I need to apologize to her for my part in shunning and hating her” her tone is

somber and I

know it’s already killing her to know she had been wrong about Ava too.

We’re quiet for a moment. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. That’s until she speaks up.

“You have to tell her Rowan. You have to tell Ava you love her. Nine years have already

been

wasted. Nine years where you would have been happy with her. You have to tell her before

it’s too

late”

2

“But how can I tell her?” I run my hand down my face. “How can I tell her when I’m not

even sure

what I feel? She has me in knots and I don’t really know what it is I feel towards her. It’s all

so

fucking confusing”

And that is the bane of my existence. The fact that I don’t know how to describe what I

feel for

4/5

+15 BONUS

“Language!” she admonishes before sighing. “I think you spent so much time hating and

resenting her that those ugly feelings are now fighting against the feelings that are

coming up and the developing ches. That is why you’re confused. Because you are trying

to reset feelings that have been dominant for years”

She continues. “Just take your time and don’t rush it. As for Ava, I saw how she looked at

you. The love she once had is either gone or buried deep inside. My advice, don’t push her

too much or she’ll snap and completely cut you off”

I nod my head as I accept her advice. After spending a few more minutes with her, I leave.

I was more relaxed than I had been when I arrived, but the tension was still there.

It was as I was driving to my office that I accepted the truth.

I did have feelings for Ava. Strong ones at that. I just didn’t know how deep they went, or

what

exactly they were. It was time I find that out.