Chapter 6 - The Baby Who Wasn’t BuriedLily survived.
Her abdomen became distended.
Her oxygen requirement increased.
The X-ray showed air inside the intestinal wall.
Rachel ordered antibiotics, stopped all feedings, and placed a tube into the baby’s stomach.
For three hours, Sophie sat beside the incubator without moving.
Ethan stayed with her.
He had officially transferred Sophie’s medical care to Maya to avoid any ethical conflict after the emergency surgery, but no hospital rule prevented him from sitting in the NICU as a visitor.
Sophie kept one hand against the incubator wall.
“She hates being cold,” she whispered.
Ethan looked at her.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“She kicks when the nurse changes her blanket.”
He smiled faintly.
“You’ve been watching carefully.”
“I missed the first hours of their lives.”
“You were unconscious.”
“I still missed them.”
“You were busy not dying.”
She looked at him.
“You always did make terrible jokes when you were scared.”
“So did you.”
“I don’t do that anymore.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“It was one of my favorite things about you.”
Sophie closed her eyes.
“You keep doing that.”
“What?”
“Talking like we’re the same people.”
“We’re not.”
“No.”
“But I remember them.”
“So do I. That’s the problem.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
“What do you remember?”
Sophie took a long time answering.
“The night you proposed.”
Despite everything, Ethan smiled.
“You knew.”
“Of course I knew.”
“You did not.”
“You wore a jacket to the beach.”
“It was October.”
“You hated jackets.”
“It was forty-eight degrees.”
“You kept touching your pocket every fourteen seconds.”
“I did not.”
“You almost dropped the ring in Lake Michigan.”
“That part is exaggerated.”
“You screamed.”
“I did not scream.”
“You absolutely screamed.”
A tiny laugh escaped Sophie.
It disappeared as quickly as it came.
But Ethan heard it.
And for a heartbeat, they were twenty-seven and twenty-four again, standing barefoot at the edge of the lake while Sophie cried over a ring Ethan had spent three months choosing.
Then Lily’s monitor alarm sounded.
Sophie stood.
“What is it?”
The oxygen number fell.
Ninety.
Eighty-four.
Seventy-six.
Rachel rushed in.
“Bag her.”
Sophie moved backward.
Ethan caught her shoulders.
“She’s bradycardic.”
The heart-rate alarm erupted.
“Lily!”
A nurse gently pushed them away from the incubator.
“Please give us room.”
Sophie fought Ethan’s grip.
“No, no, no.”
“Let them work.”
“She’s dying!”
“She’s not.”
“You don’t know that!”
Ethan had no answer.
He watched the neonatal team ventilate Lily.
Her heart rate dropped below sixty.
Rachel began chest compressions.
Sophie screamed.
The sound tore through the unit.
“My baby!”
Ethan wrapped both arms around her.
She hit his chest.
“Do something!”
“They are.”
“You’re a doctor!”
“I can’t interfere.”
“Save her!”
The same words from the operating room.
The same terror.
Ethan held her as she collapsed against him.
“Come on, Lily,” Rachel whispered.
Medication entered the infant’s IV.
Seconds passed.
Then the heart rate climbed.
Sixty-five.
Seventy-eight.
Ninety-two.
Rachel stopped compressions.
“Heart rate coming back.”
Sophie stopped fighting.
Her fingers closed around Ethan’s shirt.
Lily’s oxygen saturation climbed.
The entire NICU seemed to exhale.
Rachel remained focused.
“Call surgery. Now.”
Sophie heard.
“No.”
Ethan looked at Rachel.
Rachel’s expression told him everything.
Medical management had failed.
Lily needed an operation.
The pediatric surgeon arrived twenty minutes later.
Dr. Samuel Ortiz was one of the best in the city.
He explained the procedure carefully.
Part of Lily’s intestine was likely dying.
They would remove the damaged section.
The risks were enormous.
But doing nothing was worse.
Sophie signed the consent form with a trembling hand.
When the surgical team came for Lily, Sophie leaned over the transport incubator.
“You come back to me.”
Her voice cracked.
“You hear me, baby girl?”
Lily’s tiny face was almost completely hidden by tubes.
Sophie pressed her fingertips to the plastic.
“I just got you.”
Ethan looked away.
Sophie whispered, “I cannot lose another child.”
The statement hit him hard.
He stayed beside her until the elevator doors closed.
Then Sophie turned.
“I can’t breathe.”
Ethan guided her to a chair.
“Slow down.”
“I can’t.”
“You’re having a panic attack.”
“My daughter is in surgery.”
“I know.”
“What if she dies?”
“She has an excellent surgeon.”
“What if that isn’t enough?”
Ethan crouched.
“Sophie, look at me.”
She did.
“I’m scared too.”
Something in her expression changed.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He could have offered a safe answer.
Because I’m a doctor.
Because she’s your daughter.
Because I care about premature babies.
Instead he told the truth.
“Because she matters to you.”
Sophie stared at him.
“And you still matter to me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Don’t love me.”
“I tried not to.”
“Try harder.”
“I did for five years.”
Silence.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“It didn’t work.”
Sophie shook her head.
“Too much happened.”
“I know.”
“You believed your father.”
“I know.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You told our friends I had stolen confidential information.”
“I corrected that publicly last year.”
“What?”
Ethan paused.
“When I discovered the documents were falsified, I released a statement clearing your name.”
Sophie stared.
“You never contacted me.”
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“My number didn’t change.”
“I didn’t think I had the right.”
“You could have apologized.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He looked away.
“Cowardice.”
She absorbed that.
It was not the answer she expected.
“When did you find out?”
“Two years ago.”
“And you waited until now to tell me.”
“I never expected to see you again.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
A nurse approached.
“Dr. Caldwell?”
Ethan stood.
“There’s someone downstairs asking for Ms. Bennett.”
Sophie tensed.
“Andrew?”
“No. Leon Bennett.”
She went completely still.
“My uncle?”
Ethan’s expression changed.
The nurse glanced between them.
“He says he’s family.”
Sophie looked confused.
“I haven’t seen Uncle Leon in almost four years.”
Ethan felt every warning in Martin’s investigation rise at once.
“Don’t go downstairs.”
She stared at him.
“Why?”
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Leon knew my father.”
Sophie frowned.
“No, he didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
“My father paid him.”
Her face drained.
“What?”
“For years.”
“You’re lying.”
“I have bank records.”
Sophie stood too quickly and winced.
“Why would Richard pay my uncle?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You always say that right before my life falls apart.”
Ethan flinched.
Before he could answer, Leon walked through the NICU doors.
Security was behind him.
“Sophie!”
He looked older than Ethan remembered.
Thinner.
Nervous.
Sophie stepped toward him.
“Uncle Leon?”
He opened his arms.
“Thank God you’re okay.”
Ethan positioned himself near Sophie.
Leon noticed.
His smile faded.
“Caldwell.”
“You know me?”
“Everyone knows you.”
“Not what I asked.”
Sophie looked between them.
“Why did Richard Caldwell pay you?”
Leon froze.
There it was.
Guilt.
Immediate.
Visible.
Sophie saw it too.
“Oh my God.”
“Sophie, let me explain.”
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Leon swallowed.
“Years.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing to hurt you.”
“Then why did he send you money?”
Leon looked toward Ethan.
“That bastard destroyed all of us.”
“My father is dead,” Ethan said. “You’re talking to me.”
Leon’s shoulders sagged.
“I gave him information.”
Sophie backed away.
“About me?”
“I needed money.”
“You spied on me?”
“Not at first.”
“At first?”
Leon rubbed both hands over his face.
“He wanted to know where you went after you left Ethan.”
Sophie’s voice trembled.
“And you told him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I owed people money.”
“You sold me?”
“No!”
“You sold information about me!”
“I was desperate.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What did Richard want after she miscarried?”
Leon’s expression changed.
That was the question.
Ethan saw it.
Sophie saw it.
Leon looked toward the floor.
“Tell her,” Ethan said.
“I can’t.”
Sophie’s voice broke.
“Tell me.”
Leon’s eyes filled.
“Richard didn’t believe the pregnancy ended the way the hospital reported.”
Sophie stared.
“What are you talking about?”
Leon looked physically ill.
“He thought you were hiding something from him.”
“I had a miscarriage.”
“I know.”
“Then what could I possibly hide?”
Leon opened his mouth.
Before he answered, Ethan’s phone rang.
Rachel.
He answered.
“Yes?”
Her voice was calm.
Professional.
But Ethan knew what it meant when surgeons called during an operation.
He looked at Sophie.
“We need to come upstairs.”
She stopped breathing.
“Is Lily alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Ethan listened.
His stomach dropped.
Rachel continued speaking.
When Ethan lowered the phone, Sophie was already crying.
“What?”
He crossed toward her.
“The surgeons found more damaged intestine than expected.”
“No.”
“They’re working.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the operation is more complicated.”
“Is she going to survive?”
Ethan could not promise.
Sophie read the answer in his face.
Her knees buckled.
This time, when Ethan caught her, she did not push him away.
She clung to him.
And over her shoulder, Ethan looked at Leon.
“This conversation isn’t finished.”
Leon’s expression was haunted.
“No.”
He looked at Sophie.
“It isn’t.”
Because the secret Richard Caldwell had paid him to watch for had never been about Sophie’s miscarriage.
It was about what happened three days afterward.
When Sophie received a call from the hospital telling her something no grieving mother should ever hear.
There had been a mistake.
May you like
The remains released after her miscarriage were not genetically related to her.
And the hospital could not explain why.
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