Rejected by my Husband novel Chapter 22

TWO YEARS LATER – THIRD PERSON POV

It had been two years since Karline signed those papers that shattered her world. Two years since she walked out of the Carter mansion with nothing but a suitcase, her son in her arms, and her pride barely intact.

Life hadn’t been easy...but it hadn’t broken her either.

She had found a decent office job in the nearby town, nothing extravagant but steady enough to provide. It kept food on the table and gave her son a sense of stability. Still, every morning when she kissed Ethan’s cheek and left him in her parents’ care, a part of her heart clenched with guilt. He was still so small. Too small, she thought sometimes, to be without her for hours. But she had to. For him. For their future.

Today, however, was her day off.

The smell of tomato sauce and melted cheese drifted from the kitchen as her mother, Isabella, pulled a tray of lasagna from the oven. “Karline, cara, come taste. I made it the way you like,” she called, her voice full of warmth.

Karline laughed softly as she set Ethan down, watching him waddle out to the yard. “Mama, if you keep cooking like this, I’ll never fit into my dresses again.”

Her mother only waved her off, placing the steaming dish on the table. “You need strength. You work too hard. Let me worry about the dresses.”

Outside, Ethan’s squeals of delight filled the air. He chased a group of chicks around the yard, their tiny wings flapping as they scattered. The goats bleated from their pen, and one of the cows swished its tail lazily while Ethan tried, unsuccessfully, to imitate its “moo.”

“Nonna! Nonna!” he cried, running back with his small fists full of wildflowers he had picked from the edge of the farm. His curly hair bounced with every step, his cheeks flushed from the sun.

Karline bent down and opened her arms wide. “Come here, my love.”

Ethan barreled into her embrace, his little arms wrapping tightly around her neck. She pressed her lips to his forehead, inhaling the familiar scent of grass and childhood that clung to him. Her chest swelled with so much love it almost hurt.

“Did you have fun?” she asked, tucking a flower behind his ear.

“Yayyyy!” Ethan nodded enthusiastically, his bright eyes shining.

Karline laughed, brushing his hair back. “Of course you had. My little champion.”

Sometimes she wondered how such joy could bloom from so much pain. Ethan was her everything, her reason to keep breathing on the darkest days, her proof that love, no matter how broken, had left her something pure.

Her father, Matteo, stepped out onto the porch, wiping his hands on a rag after working in the fields. He smiled when he saw Ethan clinging to Karline. “That boy is growing like the crops,” he said with pride. “Strong legs, strong lungs. He’ll be running this farm one day.”

Karline’s throat tightened. She forced a smile, though her heart ached at the thought. That he's growing up without a father.

what if he ask about his father one day? ofcourse he'll do.

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