Three years into my marriage with Shawn, I found out I was pregnant.

I nervously but joyfully prepared to surprise him with the news.

Yet what I received was the news of Shawn’s accidental death.

Devastated by the blow, I miscarried the child and killed myself in despair.

However, after death, I saw him drinking and mocking me with his rowdy friends.

“Samantha is so dumb. I can’t believe she really fell for that prank. Does she really think I’d be fooled by her? I’m not an idiot like her. What, she’s pregnant? If she was going to make up something to fool me, she should have at least made it more believable.”

But our child really was gone, and I had really died.

“Miss Simmons, congratulations. You’re pregnant.”

The news hit me like a wave of euphoria and left me lightheaded and overwhelmed. Holding the pregnancy test report in my hands, tears welled up in my eyes.

Before I left the hospital, I called Shawn Parker.

“Are you coming home tonight, Shawn? I have a surprise for you.”

Shawn said, “I got it. I’ll be home tonight. Just wait for me. Don’t worry. I’ve prepared a surprise for you, too. You’re going to love it.”

Unlike his usual cold and detached tone, there was tenderness in his voice.

The joy clouded my thoughts and made me subconsciously overlook the sound of laughter coming from his end of the line.

I hung up and held the pregnancy report in my arms as if it were a precious treasure while I made my way home.

I was pregnant. Shawn and I were going to have a baby. I was going to be a mom.

Shawn loved kids more than anything.

I could not help but start imagining what it would be like for our family when the baby was born.

My heart raced with excitement. My hands trembled with anticipation.

Mrs. Taylor looked at me with a smile.

“Why do you look so happy today, ma’am?”

I showed her the pregnancy test and told her I was pregnant.

Mrs. Taylor was just as excited for me. She bustled around and started preparing dinner for Shawn and me.

I sat at the dining table and eagerly waited for Shawn to come home.

However, as time passed, the hour hand ticked past twelve.

Still, there was no sign of him outside the door.

Mrs. Taylor came over with a look of concern. “Ma’am, it’s getting late. Maybe you should rest. Mr. Shawn is probably tied up with work.”

Before she finished, the phone rang.

I rushed to pick it up. “Shawn, are you coming home soon?”

“Hello, is this Mrs. Parker, wife of Shawn Parker? There was a fire in the southern part of the city today. Your husband passed away from asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation. We need you to come to identify the body.”

The words came at me one after another. It knocked the breath out of me and left me dazed. I was rooted to the spot.

By the time it sank in, tears were already streaming down my face.

I frantically called Shawn, but there was no answer.

I tried calling his friends, but all I got was this. “Shawn left as soon as work was over. He said he was going to surprise you.”

My heart sank into despair. I rushed to the hospital in a panic.

All that remained was a charred corpse.

It lay on the hospital bed. The skin had burned away. The face was unrecognizable.

My heart felt like it was being ripped from my chest. Instinctively, I shook my head and said with a trembling voice, “This can’t be him. This can’t be Shawn.”

Smack!

Jenna Roberts, with her red eyes, stormed over and slapped me across the face.

“What are you talking about? Everyone knows that Shawn left work early today to get you a birthday present. If it wasn’t for you, this would never have happened to him!”

I did not evade it. I collapsed to the floor.

At that moment, Shawn’s parents arrived. They grabbed me and started hitting me.

“This is all your fault! You took our son from us! Rachel, you cursed woman, why couldn’t it have been you instead?”

Tears blurred my vision.

I also thought to myself. “Yes, why couldn’t it have been me?”

Shawn and I were childhood sweethearts.

My parents were traditional and favored boys over girls. When I was little, they sent me to live with my aunt and uncle.

Other kids would point at me and call me the “unwanted child.”

The cruelty of kids knows no bounds.

They would gang up on me after school, tearing my dresses and sticking chewed gum in my hair.

During my aunt and uncle’s absence, my cousin Jenna would even lock me in the storage room.

“You had it coming. Your mom didn’t want you, and now you’re trying to steal mine.”

I used to think this dark and hopeless life would never end.

But then Shawn showed up.

He lifted me off the ground, stepped in front of me, and chased away the kids who had been bullying me.

He ended up getting into a fight. When he got home, Mr. Parker beat him with a belt and left him bruised and bloody.

It broke my heart to see him hurt because of me. I cried and took the candy I had kept hidden for so long and went to see him in secret.

He was lying on the bed and struggling to wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes.

“Don’t cry. I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt. I’ll always protect you from now on.”

He was like a ray of light, breaking into the bleak, dark world I lived in.

But it was all gone.

The punches and kicks raining down on me hurt so much I wanted to cry, but when you were in despair, you could not even cry.

I stared at the charred body. His finger wore the same diamond ring as mine.

A dull ache started in my lower abdomen.

Suddenly, it hit me, our baby…

Shawn’s parents were still shouting at me and yelling, “Why aren’t you dead yet?”

Disoriented and broken, I clutched my stomach and tried to stand, but the pain was so intense I could barely move.

“It was so close. So close.”

It was so close. If only he had had a little more time, he would have known about the baby.

I signed the body release form in a daze and returned home.

All my strength was gone. I clutched my stomach and collapsed on the floor by the door. The blood between my legs stung my eyes.

I reached out into the air to try grabbing something, but there was nothing to hold onto.

The next day, I attended Shawn’s funeral in full attire.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. My white wedding dress was soaked in blood.

Jenna screamed and ran toward me. She shoved me away.

“Samantha, haven’t you done enough? Is it not enough that you killed Shawn? Now you won’t even let him rest in peace?”

She kept shouting, but I could not hear the rest.

I numbly placed the white roses I had brought next to the coffin. Then, I walked away, feeling empty.

I returned to our home, paid Mrs. Taylor her wages, and asked her to leave.

I locked the bedroom door and lay down on the bed.

As the last rays of the sun faded, I felt something slowly drain from my body.

Maybe it was life. Maybe it was consciousness.

It did not matter anymore. I thought. “Shawn, I’m coming to you with our baby.”

…

I was back at Shawn’s funeral when I opened my eyes again.

My body felt translucent. No one could see me.

But it was all right.

I was dead now, which meant I could see my Shawn again.

I scanned the room and searched for his presence.

Finally, I saw him. He was standing beside Jenna.

I instinctively rushed toward him.

“Shawn, I finally found you! We’re having a baby!”

However, my hands passed right through him.

Shawn did not seem to hear me. He turned to comfort his grieving parents and said, “Dad, Mom, don’t cry. It’s me. I’m not dead.”