Loading promotion info...
My Husband Begged Me to Save a Baby That Wasn't His
Novelix
Completed
For seven years, I let my husband blame me for our childless marriage to hide his infertility. Then he begged me to save his pregnant mistress, claiming she could give him what I couldn't. I saved her and the baby—and filed for divorce. He repaid me by telling the world I'd withheld treatment for money, hoping to stop me from reclaiming what he'd spent on his affair. Hospital records cleared my name. A paternity test shattered his fantasy: the baby wasn't his. Now he wants our marriage back, but saving his mistress never meant I would stay.
Chapters (2)
第1章
My husband begs me to save his mistress and their baby, the baby he says she's giving him because I can't.
Seven years ago, his test results showed no sperm in his semen.
I took the blame anyway.
Now he has another woman in a hospital bed, and he needs me to keep her alive.
An hour earlier, I don't know any of this.
I'm finishing rounds when Dr. Helen Brooks calls.
"We have a patient with placenta percreta. Imaging shows bladder involvement. She's had two bleeding episodes, and our lead surgeon is out of state."
"How far along?"
"Thirty-four weeks."
I stop beside the nurses' station.
"Send me the scans. I'll come over."
By the time I reach the receiving hospital, I've reviewed her chart on my phone.
Chloe Dawson. Twenty-seven.
Her placenta has grown through the wall of her uterus and into her bladder. Delivering her baby could cause massive bleeding.
Helen meets me outside the unit.
"We've reserved an operating room for tomorrow morning. Urology and anesthesia are ready. The blood bank knows."
"And tonight?"
"She's stable. Continuous monitoring."
"Any more bleeding, call me immediately."
Chloe is sitting up when I enter her room. Her hair is brushed, her phone plugged in beside her pillow.
"Are you the specialist?"
"Dr. Bennett."
She glances at my badge.
"Will my baby be okay?"
"We have a team preparing for your delivery. I'll explain what we're planning and the risks."
Her eyes fill as I describe the bleeding risk and the possibility that we may need to remove her uterus.
I pull a chair closer.
"We'll take care of you, too, Chloe."
She nods, pressing a tissue under her eyes.
"Can you explain it to my boyfriend? He gets upset when I try."
"Of course."
"He's parking."
I spend another twenty minutes answering her questions. She's frightened, but she understands. Before I leave, she signs the consent forms.
Her phone lights up.
She reads the message and smiles.
"He's here."
The nurse directs me to a small consultation room.
A man stands by the window with his back to the door.
I recognize his jacket first. Navy wool. I bought it for his birthday.
Then he turns.
"Ryan?"
My husband stares at me.
He's supposed to be away at a sales conference. This morning, he texted that the hotel coffee was terrible.
I sent him a picture of the mug he'd left beside our sink.
He never replied.
"What are you doing here?"
His gaze drops to my badge.
"Audrey. I didn't know they called you."
"Why would you?"
He says nothing.
I close the door.
"The patient asked me to speak to her boyfriend."
"Audrey—"
"Is that you?"
"Keep your voice down."
I look through the narrow window beside the door. A nurse passes with a stack of blankets.
When I turn back, Ryan is reaching for me.
I move away.
"How long?"
"It's complicated."
"How long have you been sleeping with her?"
"Almost a year."
We've been married seven.
Last month, he complained that my overnight shifts made him feel like he lived alone. I traded two weekends so we could spend more time together.
He canceled both.
"Is she telling you the baby's yours?"
His face hardens.
"It is mine."
I put the chart on the table before I drop it.
"So you brought her here."
"She needed help. What was I supposed to do?"
"Tell me the truth."
He drags a hand over his mouth.
Then he looks straight at me.
"You couldn't give me a child. She could."
第2章
I wait for him to take it back.
Ryan pulls out a chair instead.
"Sit down. We need to be adults about this."
"I just found out the woman I'm supposed to operate on is your mistress. Don't tell me to calm down."
"I didn't ask them to call you."
"But now that I'm here?"
He looks toward the door.
"Now I'm asking you to help."
I stay standing.
"You could have left me."
"I didn't want to leave you."
"You just wanted to get another woman pregnant."
"I wanted a family."
The words come easily. He's used them before.
When his mother cried at his cousin's baby shower.
When he refused another appointment.
When I asked whether he'd consider seeing someone to talk about the diagnosis.
Seven years ago, we sat in a specialist's office while a doctor explained that both his samples contained no sperm.
Azoospermia.
Ryan asked whether the lab had made a mistake.
The doctor explained the possible causes, the tests Ryan needed, and our options.
In the car, Ryan tore up the appointment card.
"Don't tell my mother."
I promised I wouldn't.
At first, I told Diane we were still figuring things out.
Then she began asking what was wrong with me.
Ryan never corrected her.
Neither did I.
I thought giving him time would help.
Instead, I spent years making appointments he canceled. My mentor found specialists willing to see him. I saved their numbers, forwarded their emails, offered to go with him.
He told me to stop treating him like a patient.
Now he stands in front of me, asking me to treat his mistress.
"I stayed," he says. "All those years, I stayed."
"And you think that earns you this?"
Before he can answer, the door opens.
Diane comes in carrying a pale blue gift bag.
"There you are. Chloe said—"
She sees me.
Her eyes move from my face to my scrubs.
"Well. At least you're useful in a crisis."
"Mom," Ryan says.
"What? We should be grateful someone finally knows what they're doing."
I glance at the bag. Tiny socks stick out through the tissue paper.
Diane follows my gaze and lifts her chin.
"My grandson needs you. Whatever you're feeling can wait."
"You knew about them."
"Of course I knew."
Ryan looks away.
I remember Christmas dinner. Diane asking whether I planned to spend another year delivering everyone else's children.
He sat beside me and kept eating.
Had she already bought the socks?
"He's thirty-five, Audrey," she says. "How long did you expect him to wait?"
"For what? Permission to cheat?"
"For a child."
"Mom, please."
"No. She's had seven years. Chloe's giving him something she never could."
I look at Ryan.
"Tell her."
His jaw tightens.
"This isn't the time."
"You let her say this to me for seven years. Tell her why we went to that specialist."
Diane snorts.
"We all know why."
"No," I say. "You don't."
Ryan reaches for the door.
I step aside so he can leave if he wants.
He doesn't.
"His tests found no sperm," I tell her. "Twice. The doctor recommended further testing. Ryan refused."
Diane's smile disappears.
"That is disgusting. Making something like that up now?"
"Ask him."
"Those tests were years ago." Ryan says.
"You remember them, then."
"Obviously they were wrong."
He points toward Chloe's room.
"What more proof do you need?"
I stare at him.
He actually believes it. A pregnancy has given him the answer he wanted, and he hasn't asked another question.
Diane folds her arms.
"There. You've embarrassed yourself enough."
Ryan steps closer.
"You need to accept that there's nothing wrong with me."
I meet his eyes.
"Then take another test."
