They Gave My Newborn to His First Love,My Ruthless Revenge

I labored for ten straight hours in the delivery room, nearly dying to bring my daughter into the world.

When they wheeled me back to my room, I found my husband, Nolan Gilbert, handing our baby to his childhood sweetheart, Renee Simmons.

"Renee, aren't you childfree? Here, hold her, feel what it's like to be a mom."

Renee was wearing the nursing pajamas that should have been mine, propped up against my hospital bed, smiling all soft and coy.

I bit down against the searing pain and stared at Nolan, refusing to believe my own eyes.

He only frowned and lowered his voice to scold me.

"Can you not be so petty?"

"Renee's never going to have kids in her whole life. She just wants to borrow your baby to feel a little maternal love. It's not like she's taking her from you."

"Once she's had enough, the baby's still going to call you Mom, isn't she?"

Then he gently tucked the blanket around Renee, and even pulled out his phone to take a mother-daughter photo of the two of them.

My heart plunged straight into ice.

It had been like this from the moment I got pregnant.

Because Renee was childfree, because she'd never have children of her own.

So she got to pick the hospital first. She got to name the baby first.

And now, even the child I'd traded my life to bring into the world, she wanted to steal the very first embrace.

The nurse who'd wheeled me in hesitated for a long moment, then asked me what I wanted to do.

Looking at the three of them, so cozy together, like a perfect little family, I touched my sagging belly.

"Get me a private room, please."

A bed someone else had slept in, a man someone else had used. Both left a bad taste in my mouth. I could do without them.

...

The nurse's face was written all over with reluctance.

She looked at me, then at the man and woman chatting and laughing in the room, and finally nodded, turning my wheelchair to leave.

"Ms. Fox, the regular rooms are this way. Let me take you over."

The wheelchair had barely turned when a large hand clamped down hard on it.

Nolan blocked our path, his brows knotted tight.

"Prudence Fox, what are you making trouble over now?"

"You just gave birth. Instead of resting properly, you're running around everywhere?"

I looked at him and repeated it, word by word: "I want a different room."

"What do you mean, a different room!"

Nolan's voice shot up, then, as if he caught himself, dropped low again.

"You just share a room with Renee, that's all. Renee's frail, so she gets the bed."

I almost laughed out loud.

"Nolan, I'm the one who just gave birth, and you want her to have the bed?"

"Is there a problem?" he answered, without a shred of shame.

"Renee's childfree. She's never going to have kids in her whole life, but she's always wanted to know what it feels like to be a mom, to have a proper postpartum rest."

"So what if you let her stay half a month? It's just one bed."

He bent down, leaning close to my ear, and spoke in that tone of I'm only doing this for your own good.

"Once she's had enough, you're still the one raising the baby, aren't you? You're weak right now anyway, so let her get you through the hardest first two weeks. Isn't that great?"

I turned my head away, not wanting to breathe in the scent of Renee's perfume clinging to him.

My gaze slipped past him, landing on the room, where Renee had already scooped up my daughter.

Her hold was clumsy, but that didn't stop her from putting on a show, having the aide snap photos of her and my daughter from every angle.

Nolan followed my line of sight, and something almost like approval crossed his face.

"See? Look how much maternal love Renee has."

"Prudence, giving birth is just a biological process. What difference does it make who raises her?"

"After Renee finishes these two weeks of postpartum rest, you can officially take over. It won't keep you from being a mom."

My heart sank, inch by inch, to the very bottom.

The hallway was full of people coming and going.

Other new mothers were surrounded by their families, fussed over, asked how they were feeling.