Chapter 3

Cordelia burst out laughing.

My breath shook, and pain stabbed through my belly in waves.

So this was the man I'd cut ties with my own parents to marry.

I turned and went back to the bedroom. Whatever last hesitation I'd had was gone now.

I had my things packed and was ready to leave for the hospital when Ethan suddenly called after me.

"Babe, I made breakfast just for you. Come eat something."

The breakfast he'd made just for me was the bowl of shrimp porridge steaming on the table.

Except he'd forgotten I was allergic to shrimp.

"I'm not eating."

He saw how bad I looked, grabbed a coat from the side, and crossed the room in a few strides.

"It's freezing out, why aren't you dressed warmer? Where are you going? I'll take you."

Behind him Cordelia sat with one leg crossed over the other, tutting and enjoying the show.

Like she was mocking him for being all talk.

Ethan glanced back at her, tipped up his chin, and gave her a look that said watch this.

I watched the two of them, and there was nothing in me but bitterness. "The hospital."

The word hospital finally sobered him a little.

"What are you going to the hospital for? Is the baby giving you trouble..."

Before he could finish, Cordelia called out behind him, "Brat, Daddy's heading home, give me a ride!"

"Ride my ass, your dad's busy. Can't you see my wife's not feeling well and needs to get to the hospital?"

That's what he said. But the second I went to get in the car, he called over to Cordelia, "Kid, get in, Daddy'll drop you on the way."

The two directions were nowhere near each other, and somehow out of his mouth it became on the way.

Cordelia laughed and cursed him a little, then walked up to the passenger door.

Her eyes swept over the sticker marking my seat, and the meaning in them was plain enough. She wanted me out.

I couldn't take it anymore.

"Miss Fox, I'm not divorced yet. This car still isn't yours."

"But Ethan promised. He said this was my own special seat. Tch, what a hassle... Kid, you say. Who gets the front?"

She said it without a shred of shame, arms folded across her chest, jabbing two fingers toward Ethan's eyes as a threat.

"You mutt, you're not going to ditch a friend over a woman, are you? Don't make me lose respect for you."

Ethan cracked up. "Am I that kind of guy, your dad?"

He turned to look at me. "Babe, go sit in the back. It's just a seat. Think of it as my apology to my dumb kid for that slap yesterday."

My heart felt like it had been stomped into pulp, and the pain of it bent me over.

Not wanting to miss the appointment for the procedure, I swallowed the whole bitter mess of it and got in the back.

Cordelia climbed happily into the passenger seat.

The two of them bickered and chatted the whole way. When we stopped, she said the shower in her bathroom was broken and ordered Ethan to go fix it.

Ethan hesitated, then said to me, "Babe, go on to the hospital first. I'll be right there."

"Don't worry, when have I ever not been at one of your checkups? In my heart, you and the baby come first."

Then he tapped over two thousand dollars to me and walked in with Cordelia without a backward glance.

Right up until I was about to be wheeled into the operating room, he still hadn't come.

The anesthesia went into my body. I don't know how much time passed before I heard, through the haze, a doctor's frantic voice.

"Where's the family? The patient's hemorrhaging, we may have to remove the uterus. Get him in here to sign now!"

"Where's the family?! This is critical!"

"Somebody call the family!"

The operating room was chaos. A nurse took my phone and called Ethan ninety-nine-plus times.

No one picked up.

While the doctors were still caught between choices, I signed the form myself on my last bit of breath.

Then I went completely under.

When I woke again, it was three hours later. My phone buzzing pulled me back.