Woman Wonders If She’s Overreacting After Finding Out What Hubby Was Doing To Avoid Getting Pregnant
Lena had been dreaming of becoming a mother since she was a little girl cradling dolls in homemade blankets. She and her husband, Josh, had been “trying” for nearly two years—calendar tracking, ovulation tests, supplements, doctor visits. She wept quietly every time her period came, and Josh was always there with soft reassurances and forehead kisses: “We’ll get there. Maybe next month.”
They never got there.
One lazy Sunday afternoon, while watching a documentary about IVF, Josh chuckled and said, almost offhandedly, “Honestly, I’ve been relieved. I mean, I haven’t exactly been trying that hard.”
Lena turned slowly. “What does that mean?”
Josh gave a half-smile, as if confessing a minor sin. “I’ve been pulling out most of the time. I just… I didn’t think it was the right time.”
She felt her lungs lock up. “You told me you wanted this. You told me you were trying with me.”
Josh shrugged. “I thought I did. But the more I saw how stressed you were getting, the more I felt like we weren’t ready.”
The betrayal wasn’t just the lie. It was the performance. The sympathy. The months she blamed her own body. The nights she cried in the bathroom, blaming fate, biology—never once suspecting the man who held her hand through it all was quietly sabotaging every step.
Lena didn’t scream. She stood up, walked to the bedroom, and began folding clothes into a bag. Josh followed her, babbling apologies, saying it didn’t mean he didn’t love her.
She zipped the suitcase with finality. “Love doesn’t look like this,” she said quietly. “You didn’t just rob me of time. You robbed me of trust.”
And with that, she left. Not because she didn’t love him, but because she finally remembered to love herself more.
