{"id":8800,"date":"2026-06-27T23:23:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T21:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/?p=8800"},"modified":"2026-06-27T23:23:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T21:23:38","slug":"diane-smiled-with-all-her-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/?p=8800","title":{"rendered":"Diane smiled with all her teeth."},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cEthan,\u201d I said quietly, \u201cmy doctor said labor could start any day.\u201d<\/div>\n
He didn\u2019t even look ashamed. He adjusted his sunglasses in the hallway mirror, admiring himself. \u201cThen call an ambulance.\u201d<\/div>\n
Diane smiled with all her teeth. \u201cOr don\u2019t. Women gave birth in fields for centuries.\u201d<\/div>\n
They had booked five days in Canc\u00fan. A \u201cmother-son reset,\u201d Diane called it, because apparently my pregnancy had made Ethan \u201cemotionally exhausted.\u201d I had spent eight months vomiting, swelling, bleeding, building a nursery, managing our bills, and pretending not to notice the way Diane whispered into his ear like a queen poisoning a prince.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re really leaving?\u201d I asked.<\/div>\n
Ethan finally turned. \u201cDon\u2019t be dramatic, Nora. You wanted a family. This is part of it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cThis is cruelty.\u201d<\/div>\n
His face hardened. \u201cCareful. That house, those cards, this lifestyle\u2014you enjoy them because of me.\u201d<\/div>\n
That was the first lie.<\/div>\n
Diane stepped closer, her perfume choking the air. \u201cWhen we get back, we\u2019ll discuss boundaries. A wife who can\u2019t please her husband shouldn\u2019t expect sympathy.\u201d<\/div>\n
I stared at them. The old Nora would have begged. The old Nora would have cried until her throat burned. But they had underestimated silence.<\/div>\n
So I only said, \u201cEnjoy your vacation.\u201d<\/div>\n
Ethan smirked. \u201cTry not to make everything about you.\u201d<\/div>\n
The door slammed. Their Uber pulled away. The house went still.<\/div>\n
Then I locked every deadbolt.<\/div>\n
I walked into Ethan\u2019s office, opened the bottom drawer of his desk, and removed the folder he thought I didn\u2019t know about: hidden debts, forged signatures, transfers from my inheritance trust into his failing luxury car business.<\/div>\n
My phone buzzed.<\/div>\n
A message from Diane appeared:<\/div>\n
Don\u2019t embarrass us while we\u2019re gone.<\/div>\n
I smiled through the pain tightening across my stomach.<\/div>\n
Then I called my attorney.<\/div>\n
\u201cMarianne,\u201d I said, breathing slowly, \u201cit\u2019s time.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEthan,\u201d I said quietly, \u201cmy doctor said labor could start any day.\u201d He didn\u2019t even look ashamed. He adjusted his sunglasses in the hallway mirror, admiring himself. \u201cThen call an ambulance.\u201d Diane smiled with all her teeth. \u201cOr don\u2019t. Women gave birth in fields for centuries.\u201d They had booked five days in Canc\u00fan. A \u201cmother-son…<\/p>\n

Read More “Diane smiled with all her teeth.”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8802,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8800\/revisions\/8802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}