Chapter 1

With only a month left to live, my husband's first love was going to get one last birthday present. He was the director of the maternity hospital, and he decided to cut my daughter out early and hand her over.

I cried and held my belly and refused.

But Lyndon Prescott forced me to sign the consent form with his own hand.

"Hilda Fox can never have children. Her greatest regret is that she'll die without ever being a mother once. The baby's just coming a few weeks early. I won't let anything happen to her."

My six-year-old son tugged at me too.

"Mommy, just lend the baby sister to Mommy Hilda. You still have me anyway."

They wheeled me into the operating room. I hemorrhaged and went into shock.

The daughter I nearly died bringing into the world—I didn't get to see her even once before Lyndon carried her up to a ward.

When I woke, a photo he'd sent popped up on my phone.

Hilda holding my daughter, blowing out candles, a card pinned to the baby's swaddle.

"A birthday gift for Hilda."

What Lyndon didn't know was that after that surgery, I no longer had a lifetime left to wait for them to give my daughter back.

1

"Give my child back to me!"

I ripped the IV needle out of the back of my hand, braced myself against the wall, and rushed into Hilda's ward.

My daughter had already cried herself hoarse. She was barely ten-odd hours old, a preemie born at thirty-five weeks who should have been in the neonatal unit, and instead Hilda was holding her, posing for pictures.

A cake, flowers, and a set of pink mommy-and-me pajamas sat by the bed.

Lyndon frowned and blocked me.

"Hilary Swanson, your incision hasn't healed. Who told you to come up here?"

"I'm asking you—why is my child in here!"

I reached out for my daughter, and just as I was about to touch her, Lyndon knocked my hand away with a slap.

Hilda's eyes went red at once.

"Hilary, please don't be like this, you're scaring me. I only wanted to be a mother once before I die. Don't be angry, I'll give the baby right back to you."

Her mouth said give her back, but her hands didn't loosen. If anything she gripped tighter, and the baby cried harder, her whole body nearly trembling.

It broke my heart.

I didn't care that my body was still bleeding. I snatched her into my arms.

Strangely enough, the little one who'd been crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath went quiet, bit by bit, the moment she was against my chest.

Her wrinkled little hand grabbed at my hospital gown, and my tears fell in an instant.

My daughter. From the moment she was born until now, this was the first time I'd truly held her.

"Baby, Mommy's here."

I bent down and kissed her forehead.

But the next second Lyndon was already reaching out, trying to wrench the child straight out of my arms.

"Give the baby back to Hilda!"

I clutched her tight and looked at this father who cared only about pleasing his first love, who'd forgotten this was still a premature baby.

"Lyndon! Our daughter should be in an incubator right now, not here!"

"Hilda's been waiting a long time for this birthday present."

He glanced at the pale-faced Hilda on the bed, his voice unbearably gentle.

"Let her stay with Hilda today. I'll send her back to the neonatal unit tonight. Don't worry, Hilda's a good mother. With her here, nothing will happen to our daughter."

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

"Mother! What right does a woman who's never even given birth have to be called a mother!"

A slap cracked out. Lyndon's face went dark, and my cheek burned.

"This is a maternity hospital. I'm her father and a doctor. I understand the baby's condition better than you do! Hilda has twenty-nine days left at most. Let her feel what it's like to be a mother. So what? How can you be so vicious?"

Vicious?

My chest felt like it had taken a punch, an ache and a bitterness I couldn't put into words.

Hilda wiped her tears and said quietly,

"Lyndon, let it go. I was never meant to be a mother anyway."

The moment he heard that, his brow tightened. He stopped bothering to reason with me and just tore the baby out of my arms.

I lunged to grab him. A sharp pain shot through my abdomen, the freshly stitched incision felt like it was ripping open, and warm blood quickly soaked through my hospital gown.

A nurse rushed over in fright to hold me up.

"Director Prescott, Dr. Swanson's incision is bleeding!"

Lyndon glanced back.

Just one glance—and Hilda pressed a hand to her chest and started gasping.

"Lyndon, I don't feel well!"

He immediately carried the baby over to her.

"Get oncology up here now!"

I gripped the edge of the bed, in too much pain to stand straight.

"Lyndon, give me my daughter back. She's so small, she can't stay out here like this, something will happen to her!"

He turned to fit the oxygen tube over Hilda, then looked back and snapped at me, impatient.

"Shut up! Stop making such a fuss. I've got my eye on the baby, nothing can go wrong!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the infant in his arms suddenly stopped crying.

The nurse's face changed all at once.

"Director Prescott! The baby's lips are turning blue!"