At the hospital, my mother trailed behind me like a small child who didn't understand how the world worked.
Because of what Fergus had said, she was terrified of becoming a financial burden to me.
Worse, she'd decided she was the reason I wanted a divorce.
“Baby, I didn't mean to hide it from you. Just don't fight with him over an old woman like me, all right?”
She murmured it in my ear over and over, her eyes full of worry.
When I came back from the restroom, she was gone.
I looked around, and my feet froze where I stood.
The information desk was surrounded by elderly people about my mother's age.
She'd finally squeezed her way into the middle and was asking the nurse the same thing again and again.
“Nurse, this condition of mine, is it going to cost a lot? How much exactly?”
Too many people were crowding in, and the nurse's patience had all but run out.
“Ma'am! I don't know about money! Stop blocking everyone else!”
The people beside her shoved her back,
and she only stammered out apologies.
I forced down the sting behind my eyes and was about to go to her when I saw Fergus stepping out of the elevator not far off, a cluster of people around him.
Stephanie's mother, Effie, walked at his side, the smile on her face impossible to hide.
“Fergus, being a medical professor really is worth something. With you making the introductions, my salon will have the hospital's backing!”
To Effie, Fergus was humble and warm.
“Ms. Harding, connections are made to be used. Everyone at the hospital knows me. Whatever I can do, I'll do for you.”
“Stephanie says you haven't been well. I'll have a word with them and get you looked after.”
The words carried, neither loud nor soft, right into my mother's ears.
Thinking of the divorce I wanted, she scrambled toward him.
“Fergus! Fergus!”
He looked up just as my mother tripped and one shoe flew off her foot.
The people around them exchanged glances. My mother winced in pain.
“Professor Sawyer, this... this is your...”
The department head beside Fergus started to ask, puzzled, but Effie cut in first to clear the air.
“Oh, please! It's just some student's parent trying to butter up Fergus, that's all. Ignore her!”
Fergus frowned and said nothing, letting Effie pull back the hand he'd already begun to extend.
My mother's body went rigid where she stood, her lips opening and closing, the words caught in her throat.
A security guard took the cue and came forward to keep order, kicking her fallen shoe off into a corner.
“Go on, go on! Put it on over there, don't stand in the middle!”
Teeth clenched, my mother stumbled to the corner, the report in her hand long since crumpled into a ball.
“Mom...”
Looking at the two of them not far off, smiling, holding themselves so high above her,
I lost my mind and rushed straight at Fergus.
The crack of my palm landed across his face.
“Fergus... how could you... how could you treat my mother like this!”
Two seconds of silence around us,
then his student was the first to shove me aside.
“Who are you? Are you insane? What gives you the right to hit our professor? Security! Secu...”
“I'm his wife!”
I screamed it, cutting him off, and heard him scoff.
“If Mrs. Sawyer didn't come see the professor every single day, I might have almost believed your nonsense!”
“The professor's wife is named Stephanie. She's this lady's daughter!”
“You? Your mother? Give me a break! Couldn't worm your way close to the professor, so you came here for a little payback, is that it?”
I froze on the spot, hardly able to believe what I'd heard.
Our eyes met, and Fergus offered not one word of explanation, only a face gone dark.
“Baby, don't fight with them... not because of me...”
“Security! Get these two lunatics out of here! Can't you see they're getting in the way of the actual patients!”
My mother's pleading and Fergus's shouting reached my ears at the same time,
and the people around us pointed and muttered.
“Tried to climb her way up and it didn't work, so now she's dragged her mother in to force his hand?”
“I don't think so. More like she wanted to be the mistress and it turned out the husband and wife are perfectly happy together.”
“Right, right. And he sounds like a professor too. The student said his wife comes to see him every day! This woman has no shame...”
……
The moment the guard came forward, I reached instinctively toward Fergus, only to watch him walk straight out the hospital doors.
The world spun, and I heard my mother's voice, nearly breaking apart.
“Baby! Don't touch her... don't touch my daughter! Doctor! Doctor!”
Something warm spread beneath me, and before my mind went dark, I saw my mother's palms covered in my blood.
“The baby...”
