Chapter 1

After three years of marriage, I still wasn’t pregnant.

My mother-in-law, Martha Thorne, whispered to my husband Ryan behind my back. "Evelyn Hayes definitely can't have kids. What good is a woman who can't give you a child? Divorce her now!"

But Ryan always stood firm. "Mom, I'm telling you again, Evelyn and I are happy. Even if we can't have our own children, we can always adopt. If you say one more word about this, I'll send you away, far from here!"

Ryan's words warmed my heart.

When Martha kept pushing, Ryan finally pulled out a medical report showing he was the infertile one.

Confronted with the evidence, Martha apologized to me, but Ryan still sent her away.

I knew there was nothing wrong with Ryan. When I asked him why he'd lied, he simply said, "Loving you means accepting everything about you."

He added that he really loved children and perhaps we could adopt.

I agreed.

Years later, I had raised our adopted son into a celebrated child actor. Then a woman appeared at our door,claiming to be his birth mother.

Before I could even speak, Ryan immediately announced to everyone, "Since his birth mother has come forward, we should give him back."

He turned to me, waiting for my refusal. The world knew I loved that boy more than my own life.

But if I refused, I would become a "child-stealing villain" and be destroyed by the public outrage.

So, I smiled and said, "No problem. He’s yours."