Chapter 1

The day my pregnancy was confirmed, my husband Evan Sanchez hammered away at the calculator.

How to claim the birth subsidy. Where to get the free checkups.

Even the hospital where I registered was the one his childhood friend worked at.

"Charlie can save us a few registration fees."

Every discount, every freebie, he chased down every last one.

When the morning sickness got so bad I was throwing up bile and wanted to buy a box of vitamins, he wiped my whole cart clean.

"Generic prenatal vitamins are free. Why waste money?"

But the second Charlotte Harding mentioned in passing that her stomach hurt from night shifts, he turned around and bought her over three thousand dollars of that soothing porridge mix.

"She's done a lot of worrying on our behalf, after all."

Then came the day I gave birth. The pain had blurred my mind, and the nurse told him to sign the emergency consent right away.

Instead he stood at the ER doors, head down, searching the hospital's fee schedule on his phone.

"Hold on. Let me check the charges first."

I was shaking with pain, screaming out one cry after another.

The nurse was frantic.

"Can you not hear her? She's about to pass out from the pain!"

Evan didn't even lift his head.

"What birth doesn't hurt?"

Charlotte lightly pressed her hand to his wrist.

"Don't panic. A lot of women scream like that when it isn't even time to deliver yet."

Evan took it like a reassurance, nodded, and went back to going over the bill.

Inside the door, I hurt until my nails split and the blood smeared across the sheets.

Outside the door, they screenshotted every line item, zoomed in, compared them.

Half an hour later, I heard Evan call the nurse over, loud.

"You overcharged us three dollars and twenty cents on the outpatient fee."

But the nurse had completely lost it.

"The mother's hemorrhaging! Get someone, now!"

The sound drifted further and further from my ears.

I watched my own half-transparent self slowly stand up off the delivery bed.

So it turned out that my life and my child's, two lives,

weren't even worth three dollars and twenty cents.

......

1

"Placental abruption, the fetal heart rate keeps dropping, she needs a C-section immediately!"

Evan stared at the payment slip, his brows knotted tight.

"Why is a C-section this expensive?"

"Didn't you just say she could deliver naturally? Are you tacking on extra charges because you see my wife in pain?"

The nurse was so angry her hands shook.

"These aren't ordinary contractions. She's bleeding!"

"Stall any longer and both the mother and the baby are in danger!"

Charlotte stood behind him, the cuffs of her white coat glaringly clean.

She spoke softly.

"Evan, don't panic first."

"Pregnant women all exaggerate when they're in pain. Louise Sullivan has always been afraid of pain."

"And the fetal monitor gives false readings sometimes. Let the doctor observe a few more minutes first."

The obstetrician whipped around.

"Dr. Harding, you're not an OB. Get out!"

Charlotte's eyes reddened instantly.

"I'm only reminding the family not to get scared."

Evan threw an arm out in front of her.

"She's a doctor. What's wrong with her reminding me?"

"You're all rushing me to sign so fast. Are you afraid I'll figure out the charges?"

Inside the door, I was curled up tight from the pain.

A warm flow surged out from under me.

The midwife pressed on my shoulder, her voice going tight.

"Louise, don't sleep. Do you hear me?"

"We've already put in for the emergency channel. You have to hold on."

I wanted to nod.

But my eyelids were heavy as if they'd been filled with lead.

Evan's voice was still out at the door.

"How much of this emergency fee gets reimbursed?"

"Why is the anesthesia billed separately?"

The hallway went dead for a beat.

The nurse gritted her teeth.

"Do human lives even mean anything to you?"

Evan's face darkened.

"I'm asking reasonable questions. What's the problem? Does being careful hurt your profits?"

Charlotte sighed.

"He just wants to spend the money clearly."

"Louise is good with money too, normally. If she were awake, she wouldn't want to be charged for things she can't even keep track of either."

A tear slid from the corner of my eye.

She talked like she knew me so well.

But when I wanted to buy one box of prenatal vitamins, Evan said I was being precious.

When Charlotte's stomach hurt, he drove twelve miles in the middle of the night to bring her porridge.

When my legs swelled until I couldn't get my shoes on, he said all women were like that when pregnant.

When Charlotte said her feet were cold, he bought her handmade cashmere socks.

I wasn't good with money.

He'd terrified me out of ever daring to spend it.