He Chose Her Son Over Ours

My daughter and my husband’s godson were diagnosed with acute leukemia at the same time. The doctors said a banked cord-blood unit could save a life. His foster sister, Rebecca Sloan, knelt in front of me with her son in her arms and begged until her voice gave out. “Claire, please, let Leo have the cord blood. His father died right after he was born and I never banked any of my own. Have some pity on the two of us. “Leo is the only child I have. I’m begging you. Save him.” I refused outright. I was not going to gamble with my daughter’s life. Then, on the morning of my daughter’s treatment, my husband, Ethan Hale hit me with his car and left me critically injured. The wheels went over my thigh and back again. The pain nearly took me under. He stood over me while I struggled in the blood on the pavement, and I couldn’t read anything in his eyes. “Claire, I’m sorry. For Leo’s sake, this is the only thing I can do. “You shouldn’t have fought Rebecca over the cord blood. Leo is far sicker than our daughter. If anyone gets saved first, it should be him.” They rushed me into surgery. He turned around, took the cord blood, and gave it to Rebecca’s son. By the time I woke up in my room, the only thing waiting for me was my daughter’s death certificate. Chapter 1 CAUSE OF DEATH: INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE; ASPHYXIA. The words on Lily’s death certificate blurred beneath my tears. Outside my hospital room, people were celebrating. Rebecca Sloan’s son had made it through treatment. My husband stood in the middle of the crowd holding little Leo against his chest, smiling as he played with the boy’s tiny fingers. “I knew he’d pull through,” Ethan said. “Our Leo is a fighter. He’ll get to grow up healthy like every other kid.” The words went straight through me. My daughter had only just turned one month old. She should have grown up too. Instead, she had died in the same hospital where everyone was cheering for another child. The door opened. Ethan came in carrying Leo. His mother, Diane, and Rebecca followed him. The moment he saw I was awake, he smiled and walked toward my bed. “Claire, look. Leo’s treatment worked. The doctors said his odds were terrible, but he made it.” He looked down at the boy affectionately. “He really is lucky.” Then he noticed my swollen eyes. His voice stopped. For one brief second, guilt flickered across his face. He remembered what he had done to get that cord blood. Rebecca walked to my bedside and dropped to her knees. “Claire, thank you,” she said, her eyes filling. “If it weren’t for you, Leo never would’ve made it.” Diane pulled her straight back up. “That’s enough. You’ve thanked her.” Then she looked at me with open irritation. “Her daughter is that sick anyway. The cord blood should’ve gone to Leo from the start.” They were all still wrapped up in Leo’s recovery. None of them knew Lily was already dead. Ethan sighed when I didn’t respond. “Right now you need to focus on recovering.” His tone was patient in the way people speak to someone they think is being unreasonable. “I didn’t have a choice. Leo is my godson. My mother practically raised Rebecca, and she loves that boy like a grandson. “You can hate me for it if you want, but don’t take it out on Rebecca. I’ll figure something else out for Lily.” He admitted everything. And there was almost no regret in his face. For Rebecca’s son, he had abandoned his own daughter. Something in me collapsed. I looked at him through red, swollen eyes. “Lily was one month old.” My voice shook. “Did you think about her at all? She was your daughter, Ethan. “Every one of you is that selfish. Did any of you stop for one second and ask what happens to my baby?” Chapter 2 I was so close to breaking that my own voice barely sounded human. Leo started crying at the noise. Ethan’s expression hardened. Diane was shaking with anger. She pointed at me. “My son is wasting the rest of his life on someone like you. “All I ever wanted was a grandson. If you hadn’t given birth to a weak, sickly girl who’s been nothing but a drain on this family, I’d have had one years ago.” From the day Lily was born, Diane had blamed me for everything. According to her, our daughter’s illness was my fault. My genes. My body. My failure to produce the healthy boy she believed the Hale family deserved. After another round of insults, she stormed out. Ethan stayed a moment longer, still soothing Leo, and the look he gave me was hard to read. Then the room finally went quiet. Nurse Bishop came in later to start an IV. I stared at the ceiling until I found enough strength to speak. “Do you know where my daughter is?” She paused. “I want to see her.” Her face changed. “Ms. Morgan... I thought you knew.” My stomach twisted. “Knew what?” "Your daughter’s remains were donated to our hospital. Her father has signed the paperwork on file.” “Her body is being held in our anatomical‑specimen lab." I didn’t understand the sentence. “What specimen collection?” I pushed myself upright. “Where is Lily?” She tried to stop me. “You just had surgery. You can’t put weight on that leg. “Your husband signed the authorization. It’s a contribution to medical science. Please, just breathe.” I ignored her. The moment my feet touched the floor, pain exploded through me. My surgical wounds tore enough that blood seeped through the dressings. She grabbed my arm. “Please, Ms. Morgan.” I clung to her instead. “Take me to my daughter. I never agreed to donate her body. “She was one month old. What gives this hospital the right to take her for research?” Maybe it was the way I looked. Maybe she felt sorry for me. Eventually, Nurse Bishop took me downstairs. I saw Lily immediately. She was behind glass, suspended in formalin, her skin dark and bruised. For a few seconds, my mind refused to accept that the tiny body in front of me was the baby I had carried for nine months. I placed my fingertips against the glass. She would never open her eyes again. I started pounding on the case. “This is illegal. You had no right. I never consented to this.” Nurse Bishop tried to hold me back and couldn’t. Security came when the noise drew attention. They pulled me away while I screamed that the hospital had taken my child without my permission. She looked sick with sympathy. Then she showed me the paperwork. There was Ethan’s signature. His name. His authorization. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said quietly. I stared at the signature until something hot and metallic rose in my throat. Eventually, I got myself up off the floor and stumbled back into the corridor. That was when I saw Ethan. Rebecca stood beside him, playing with Leo while Ethan held the boy. To anyone passing by, they looked like a family. I crossed the hall as fast as my injured legs allowed and grabbed Ethan’s collar. “Why?” My voice echoed through the hallway. “Why would you do this to Lily? She was your daughter. I carried her for nine months. I nearly died bringing her into the world.” People stopped to stare. Ethan’s face darkened. He tightened his hold on Leo and knocked my hand away. “What is wrong with you? You’re injured. You should be in bed instead of making a scene in front of me. “I already told you I’d find another treatment for Lily. The hospitals overseas are better. I’m not going to let our daughter suffer.” Chapter 3 A bitter laugh escaped me, my eyes burning. I couldn’t get the sight of Lily out of my head. She was so small. They had hollowed her out and made a specimen of her, and now she would float in that tank of formalin forever. And even so, Ethan stood there playing dumb. Rebecca pulled Leo protectively behind her and watched me nervously. “Claire, if you’re angry, take it out on me. Don’t blame Ethan. Everything he did, he did for me. “Please don’t let me be the reason your marriage falls apart...” She sounded apologetic. But I caught the satisfaction underneath it. That was the moment I understood something simple. Rebecca could only do this because Ethan let her. Lily would still be alive, and still whole, if he had not chosen Rebecca’s child over his own. My arms fell to my sides. Ethan’s expression softened when he saw how badly I was bleeding. “You don’t have to worry. I keep my promises. There’s no reason to stand here making a scene. “I already said I’d get Lily the best treatment there is. Leukemia like hers gives her three years at the most. You’d be kinder to let her go early— “We’re still young. We can have another healthy baby.” He had said that last part to me more times than I could count since the day our daughter was born. “Ethan, you don’t deserve to call yourself a father.” Better to take her out of this place than leave her here for the rest of time. And never come back. I stayed in the hospital for a full month before they let me go. Ethan tried several times to smooth things over. I ignored him. Eventually, his patience disappeared. He threw himself into Leo’s recovery and seemed to forget he had a daughter at all. It wasn’t until after I was discharged that he came to me. “Leo’s recovering really well.” He sat beside me and squeezed my hand. “Mom wants us at the house tonight. She wants to make it a celebration.” I said nothing. He mistook my silence for anger about the cord blood. “I know you’re still upset. I’ve already been in touch with specialists overseas. Give it a little longer and we’ll send Lily out for treatment—” I interrupted him. “When was the last time you saw Lily?” He froze. Maybe he realized for the first time how long it had been since he’d asked about his own daughter. I no longer cared enough to explain. Before he could say anything else, I stood and put distance between us. “You said dinner. Let’s go.” He didn’t argue. He stayed close behind me the whole way, his eyes drifting to me again and again. Rebecca was already at his mother’s house when we arrived. She gave me a polite smile. The baby in her arms had filled out. Pink cheeks. Bright eyes. For one unbearable second, I thought that if Lily had lived, I would have raised her better than that. Rebecca noticed me looking and pulled her son closer. “Claire, you don’t mind that I’m here, do you? Diane asked me to come tonight—” “I don’t mind.” I said it lightly and walked past her. Dinner was exactly as miserable as I expected. Ethan sat pressed close to Rebecca and watched Leo with a tenderness he had never once shown our daughter. Diane could barely put the boy down. I sat at the edge of the table and said nothing. Eventually, her attention landed on me. She made a small contemptuous noise. “Claire, you and that sickly daughter of yours have held Ethan back long enough. “So I want the two of you divorced, and I want Ethan to marry Rebecca. Leo’s father is dead. The boy needs a new one. “Don’t worry. Name whatever figure you want.” Ethan’s fork slipped out of his hand and clattered onto his plate. Chapter 4 Ethan stared at his mother. “Mom. I told you not to bring this up again. “Besides, Claire and I still have Lily—” His eyes shifted toward me automatically. Diane did not care. “Rebecca grew up right beside you. Leo is your godson. He’s tiny, and his condition has only just stabilized. If you’re his father, there’ll be someone to look after him.” Ethan pressed his lips together. He did not reject the idea. That hesitation told me everything. There was nothing steady left in his eyes. Rebecca immediately played the reasonable one. “Ethan, it’s all right if you don’t want to. I can raise Leo myself. Don’t put yourself in a difficult position for my sake.” Diane kept pushing. Ethan looked at me for a long time. Finally, he sighed. “Claire, you heard her. There’s really nothing I can do. “Why don’t we divorce for now? Once Leo is grown and doesn’t need me anymore, we can remarry.” The last piece of hope inside me went out so quietly that I almost felt relief. Of course he chose someone else again. My clenched hands relaxed. “Fine.” I set down my fork. “When do you want to file? Now?” Ethan clearly hadn’t expected me to agree so quickly. Something complicated went across his face. When no one spoke, I had no interest in staying. As I headed for the door, Ethan called after me. “I mean it, Claire. The moment Leo doesn’t need me, we remarry. “Until then I’ll provide for you and our daughter. I’ll be a proper father to her.” I did not answer. I left his mother’s house and went straight to the hospital. I was taking my daughter out of there. Specimen or not, she was still mine. Staff tried to stop me outside the specimen collection. A doctor came after me down the hall. “Ms. Morgan, your daughter’s father consented to the donation. We obtained the authorization lawfully. “I understand what you’re feeling right now, but you can’t just take her out of here.” I didn’t hear any of it. I picked up a fire extinguisher and swung it into the case, again and again. The glass gave way. A shard opened my palm. I didn’t care. I gathered my daughter’s small body against my chest and looked at them. “I’m her mother.” My voice shook. “I never agreed to this. None of you had the right to take her from me.” The doctors couldn’t stop me, so they called Ethan and Rebecca. They arrived while staff still had hold of me. Rebecca immediately raised her voice. “Claire, can you stop this? If you have a problem with us, fine, but why come and wreck a hospital? These specimens matter to their research.” She pretended to be calming me. Every word reminded me that Ethan’s signature was the reason Lily had ended up behind glass. Lily could have been saved. They were the reason she wasn’t. Ethan took in my red eyes and the wreckage on the floor and frowned. “You said you didn’t care. Now you come here and cause a scene? Did you ever once think about how this makes me look?” I held Lily tighter. “You want to marry Rebecca?” I met his eyes. “Have her.” Then I walked past him. He had never seen me like this. He shouted after me. “Claire! If you walk out now, don’t ever come back.” I never slowed down. My daughter and I would give him exactly what he asked for. We were never coming back.