"She's not doing well. I need Dr. Dickerson over there right now. Stop making a scene."
As he spoke, he grabbed Felicity Dickerson by the arm and tried to drag her away. He didn't even glance down at the blood soaking through my pants.
Dr. Dickerson wrenched her arm free, her voice sharp and urgent.
"Absolutely not. You cannot stop a D&C midway through. The patient is at risk of infection, hemorrhaging, or worse."
Louis didn't care. He let out a cold laugh.
"Daphne is just jealous of Kathy. This has nothing to do with you. You're coming with me. Now."
No matter what Dr. Dickerson said, he hauled her away by force.
I watched his retreating back, and something inside me collapsed.
"Louis, I want a divorce."
I saw him falter. His steps hitched for just a fraction of a second. But then he kept walking without looking back.
A few seconds later, Kathy's voice drifted from the room next door.
"Louis, you pulled another patient's doctor away like that. Won't she be upset?"
His reply was soft, tender.
"So what if she is? As long as you're safe, nothing else matters."
Kathy giggled, pleased with herself.
"I knew it. You care about me more than anyone."
A searing, ripping pain tore through my body.
The nurse who came to check on me went pale, her voice trembling.
"Mrs. Henson, you're hemorrhaging. I'm getting Dr. Dickerson right now."
Hemorrhaging. That explained the dizziness, the way the room swam, the frantic hammering of my heart.
But I heard it clearly when the nurse rushed to the next room. Louis's voice, low and hard.
"Hemorrhaging? It's a trick. She's faking it. Dr. Dickerson stays right here. If anyone tries to move her, I'll take it straight to the hospital director."
He was convinced I was lying. Meanwhile, I was slipping into shock from blood loss.
The nurse eventually found a doctor from another department. They barely managed to save me.
When I woke the next day, Louis was sitting by my bed.
For one foolish moment, I thought he'd come because he finally cared. Instead, he stared at me with a deep crease between his brows.
"Why are you still in the hospital? What exactly do you want? Why do you insist on making life difficult for a pregnant woman?"
The anger hit my wound like a fist. I pressed it down, forced my voice steady.
"Louis, have you forgotten that I went to the hospital for a prenatal checkup? Kathy is pregnant, and I'm not? Is that what you think?"
I held his gaze.
"I was two months along. But the baby is gone now. Because of you."
The color drained from his face. Then, in the next instant, his palm cracked across my cheek.
"You're out of your mind, Daphne! You'd make up anything to come between me and Kathy!"
The blow caught me completely off guard. I tumbled off the hospital bed and hit the floor.
The surgical wound from yesterday felt like it was tearing open.
Louis saw the agony on my face. He reached for me instinctively.
"Are you okay? Did you hit anything?"
I shoved him away with every ounce of strength I had.
"Get away from me. Don't touch me!"
In that moment, I felt a revulsion toward him I had never known before.
He stared at me, stunned, unable to form a single word.
His phone cut through the silence, shrill and jarring.
He didn't answer it. Instead, he straightened up and spoke in a rush.
"If you want to lie here, suit yourself."
"Kathy's in a bad mood. She's pregnant, after all. I'm going to take her out to clear her head."
I said nothing. He walked out without a backward glance.
A bitter smile twisted my lips. How had we ended up here?
Louis and I had grown up together. Childhood sweethearts. We started dating at eighteen, and the day I graduated college at twenty-three, we got married.
I never imagined that three years in, I'd discover he'd been keeping Kathy Hughes on the side like a caged songbird.
