Chapter 3
I choked and coughed before I suddenly heard a furious voice. “What the heck are you doing to Evelyn?”
I looked up and met Gabriel’s stunned eyes.
The moment I saw him, my tears fell even harder. “Honey, please… save our baby.”
He rushed over, shoved Marvin and Georgia aside, and untied me before pulling me into his arms.
Seeing me cry so desperately, his eyes grew red. He stroked my back and whispered soothingly, “It’s okay, Evelyn. Don’t be afraid. I’m here now.”
Now that I finally had someone to lean on, I broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
Gabriel loved me. He always treated me with care and never let me suffer even the slightest grievance. He often traveled for weeks at a time, but he would hire multiple housekeepers to make sure I was well cared for. He was only back now because I’d called him.
Once I quieted a little, he looked at Marvin, Georgia, Mom, and Dad, fury blazing in his eyes.
“Mom, Dad, Evelyn is your daughter-in-law. How could you treat her this way? Didn’t you promise you would treat her like your own daughter?”
Then, he turned to Mom and Dad, his tone filled with reproach. “Both of you are Evelyn’s parents, and yet you just stood by while she was being mistreated. Do you even deserve to be called her parents?”
None of them argued back. They simply said that my pregnancy had to be terminated.
Gabriel ignored them. He bent down to scoop me up into his arms and was ready to take me to the hospital when the parrot spoke again.
“Get rid of the baby! Get rid of the baby!”
I instinctively covered Gabriel’s ears and looked at him through tears. “Please, don’t listen to it.”
But I knew he heard it. And just like that, his expression shifted.
He looked away from me and turned to stare at the parrot.
The parrot’s words echoed through the whole house, and it felt like they were etched into my mind.
I grabbed Gabriel’s face, forcing him to look at me. “Honey, don’t believe it. It’s nonsense. Please, don’t listen to that bird.”
I clung to a shred of hope. Gabriel loved me. He was educated and rational. Surely he wouldn’t force me to give up our baby because of a parrot.
But when I looked at him with all my hope, he said the same thing as the rest of them.
“Evelyn, terminate the pregnancy.”
His words struck me like lightning, obliterating my last shred of hope.
I grabbed his collar, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “Gabriel, do you even know what you’re saying?”
He nodded firmly. “This baby has to go. You have no choice.”
I slapped him hard across the face when I heard what he said.
I took the amniocentesis report from the floor and shoved it at him. My voice was raw with rage as I shouted, “This is your baby! He’s healthy and perfect! Why would you still choose to believe a parrot and kill him?”
Gabriel barely glanced at the report before frowning coldly. “It doesn’t matter what you say. This baby can’t be born. Whether you like it or not, this pregnancy has to be terminated.”
At that moment, all strength drained from me. I could only laugh bitterly, the sound coming out hollow and broken. “Gabriel, this is our third baby. Your parents forced me to abort our first and second baby too.”
His eyes widened, filled with shock and disbelief.
I never told him about the first two babies I lost. I never even mentioned that I was pregnant.
I’d planned to surprise him when he returned from his business trips, but each time, Marvin, Georgia, and that parrot ruined everything before it could even happen.
I hid it because I was afraid that he would resent his parents if he learned the truth. But I shouldn’t have bothered. They were all the same.
Just then, a sharp pain tore through my abdomen, and warm blood gushed down my legs. I knew that the abortion pill had already taken my baby.
All of them let out a sigh of relief. Even the parrot finally fell silent, satisfied. They all rejoiced that the baby was gone. Only I was drowning in grief.
At the hospital, when they performed the dilation and curettage procedure, I stayed conscious long enough to feel the life get ripped out of my body once again.
When I lost my consciousness, regret washed over me. I regretted not being able to protect my baby. Or perhaps, to put it differently, I regretted ever carrying such a doomed baby in the first place.
When I woke again, it was past midnight. I was lying in the guest room of my in-laws’ house. Gabriel sat slumped at my bedside.
I wanted nothing more than to escape this filthy, hypocritical home. So, I slipped out of bed quietly.
But as I passed the study, I heard the parrot—the same cursed bird that had destroyed all three of my children—chattering inside.
Hearing its voice, a surge of hatred flared in my chest. Without thinking, I pushed the study door open, filled with an urge to kill it.
But the moment the door swung open, what I saw made me freeze to the core. It was a scene I would never forget for the rest of my life.
And in that instant, I finally understood why my in-laws, my parents, and even my husband had all listened to that parrot and forced me to abort every single one of my children.
