After Divorce, I became Mr. Ford's Substitute Bride

**Preface**

-------------Update Schedule------------

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Chapters are updated daily, though there may be occasions when I post twice or even three times a day. Turn on notifications so you don’t miss a drop!

Love ya!

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-------------Author’s Note -------------

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Thank you so much for choosing to read this story. It is completely fiction but I believe you would be able to relate to the reality of it.

Your time and resources poured into this book mean everything. With countless amazing books out there, the fact that you chose mine is something I sincerely appreciate. It's both an honor and a privilege.

If you're enjoying the journey, I’d truly appreciate hearing your thoughts. Your feedback is a great source of motivation.

Multi-dimensionally Yours,

Grace Grandi

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Chapter 1

**Cynthia’s POV**

"It's just a headache. With modern medicine so advanced, it won't kill you."

Ethan didn't even look up from his phone as he spoke. His coffee sat untouched beside his plate, growing cold while he scrolled through emails, sitting before him was my son, Amber and my Mother- In-law.

I stood at the edge of the dining table, one hand gripping the back of my chair to steady myself. The pounding in my skull had kept me awake all night, and this morning the nausea was so intense I had barely managed to prepare breakfast.

"Ethan, please. It's not just a headache. I've been having these symptoms for weeks now, and they're getting worse. I really think I should see a doctor, and I'd like you to come with me…"

"Don't make a fuss." My mother-in-law cut me off. "Just take some medicine and you'll be fine. You're always complaining about something, jeez!."

"But Mother, I'm really not feeling well. Yesterday I nearly collapsed in …"

"Are you overthinking it again?" She finally glanced at me, her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. "Doctors tend to scare people. They'll run a bunch of expensive tests and tell you you're stressed. Is that what you want? To waste money on your anxiety?"

My throat tightened. "I don't think it's anxiety. Something feels really wrong…"

"Mom…, you're so dramatic." Amber didn't even pause between bites of his eggs. "Can I have more juice?"

I moved automatically to get the pitcher, but the room tilted. I grabbed the edge of the table for stamina.

"Cynthia." Ethan's voice held a note of irritation. "I have three important meetings today. I have to finalize the Bennett proposal. I don't have time to sit in a hospital waiting room because you have a headache."

"I'm not asking you to miss work. Maybe you could just come with me after…"

"We'll talk about this later." He stood abruptly, chair scraping against the hardwood floor. "Right now, you need to stop being so dramatic. Take an aspirin and rest. You'll be fine."

He grabbed his briefcase and keys in one smooth motion, then turned to Amber. "Come on, buddy. I'll drop you at school."

“Finally!” Amber jumped up. “Can Aunt Anna pick me up today? She promised to take me for ice cream!”

“We’ll see. Grab your backpack,” Ethan said, already rising.

I opened my mouth – to remind him that Amber had already had ice cream yesterday and shouldn’t have another and to beg him to come with me to the hospital, but Ethan was already striding to the door, our son trotting happily after him.

“Wait… Ethan…” My voice broke, swallowed by the slam of the closing door. My Mother In-Law had already found her way out of the dining area.

The silence that followed felt suffocating. I stood there surrounded by dirty dishes and cooling food, my hands trembling against the table edge.

The nausea hit me like a wave.

I stumbled toward the kitchen sink, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. The floor seemed to rise up too fast. I fell to my knees on the carpet.

I couldn't hold back the gagging sensation in my throat, my stomach heaved, and I retched onto the intricate blue and gold pattern.

"Oh my God!"

I looked up through watering eyes. My mother-in-law’s face twisted in disgust, I thought she had returned to her room.

"You're so disgusting!" she shrieked. "How could you vomit on the carpet? Anna brought this back from France last year! Do you know what this costs?"

"I'm sorry," I gasped, wiping my mouth with shaking hands. "I couldn't make it to the…"

"Oh my God, why would my damn husband – bless his soul – ask Ethan to marry you!" She pressed her hand dramatically to her forehead. "If you don't clean it up, you're doomed! Do you hear me? I want every trace of this gone!” She stormed out.

I knelt there on the soiled carpet, with a well of tears escaping from my lids and mixing with the mess on the floor. I reached for the cleaning supplies, scrubbing until my knuckles were raw and my arms ached.

I must not be sick, I told myself with each scrub. I can't be sick. They need me. I just need to be stronger.

***

The hospital was busier than I expected for a Tuesday afternoon.

The headache had become a constant companion, a drum that never stopped beating behind my eyes. I'd grown almost used to it, learning to function around it.

Then I noticed a man walking past the reception desk. He was just so familiar. He was tall, wearing a charcoal suit I recognized because I'd picked it up from the tailor three weeks ago.

My heart fluttered in my chest at the thought of Ethan probably coming to the hospital to check up on me.

"Ethan?" I called out but he was already turning a corner, heading deeper into the hospital.

I followed curiously. What else would he be doing in the hospital if not to confirm if I am fine, well, he still has me in his heart after all.

I was about to call out his name louder when I saw him outside the obstetrics ward, right in front of a door marked PRENATAL CONSULTATION.

Ethan stood there, and beside him was Anna.

"Ethan, I can't believe it!" Her voice carried down the hallway, bright and breathless. "I'm pregnant! Can you believe it? I'm really, actually pregnant!"

The words slammed into me like a fist to the chest.

Pregnant.

He’s been having an affair with her all along, hasn’t he? The late nights, the brushed-off explanations, the way he always sided with her – it all made cruel sense now.

Ethan had never truly accepted me, not even after I gave birth to our son, Amber.

Eight years ago, when I learned I would marry him, I was naïve enough to be happy. I thought it was fate, that our future would be golden. But reality had slapped me again and again until I was numb.

If it hadn’t been for his father’s dying wish – if it hadn’t been for the will that chained him to me, he would never have married me and now, with his father gone, nothing stopped him from treating me like the unwanted burden I’d become.

I stood frozen, partially hidden behind a corner, watching my husband place his hand gently on Anna's shoulder.

"Let's wait for the doctor to confirm," he said, but there was a softness in his voice that I hadn't heard directed at me in years.

"I know, I know, but the home kit test was positive! Oh God, Ethan, we're going to..." Anna cut herself off, glancing around. For a moment, I thought she'd seen me but she just lowered her voice and leaned closer to him.

Anna had no boyfriend. She'd never mentioned dating anyone and now she was pregnant, for my husband?

No. No, this can't be happening.

"Ma'am?" A nurse appeared beside me. "Ma'am, are you alright? You look very pale."

I tried to respond, but no words came out. The floor seemed to rush up toward me.

"Ma'am!"

Darkness swallowed everything.

***

When I opened my eyes, I was staring at white ceiling tiles with annoying beeping sounds.

"Mrs. Walker, can you hear me?"

I turned my head slowly. An older doctor stood beside the bed and behind him, a nurse checked an IV drip connected to my arm.

"What..." My voice came out as a croak. "What happened?"

"You fainted in the hallway. We brought you to the ER and ran some scans." He pulled up a stool, sitting so we were at eye level. "Mrs. Walker, I need to discuss your test results with you."

The test results, right. That's why I'd come here in the first place but all I could see was Anna's face, glowing with happiness. Ethan's hand on her shoulder, loving and protective.

"Mrs. Walker?"

I forced myself to focus. "I'm listening."

He pulled out a tablet, showing me images I didn't understand, cross-sections of a brain, with a dark mass visible in one quadrant.

"The headaches and nausea you've been experiencing – we have identified the cause. You have a mass in your brain. A tumor." He paused, and in that pause, my entire world shifted on its axis. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but based on the size and the rate of growth, it's malignant."

Malignant.

The word echoed in my head, somehow louder than all the headaches combined.

"What does that mean?" I already knew. I just needed him to say it.

"It means the tumor is cancerous and aggressive. We can discuss treatment options, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy – but Mrs. Walker, I need to be honest with you." His eyes were kind, which somehow made it worse. "Given the location and the stage we're at, you have approximately six months. With treatment, possibly longer, but..."

Six months.

One hundred and eighty days.

The ceiling tiles blurred as tears filled my eyes.

"No," I whispered. "No, that can't be right. I have a son. I have…there's so much I haven't…"

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Walker. We'll schedule you for a follow-up appointment to discuss your options. Is there someone we can call? Your husband?"

My husband.

Who was somewhere in this hospital right now, holding my sister while she told him about the baby growing inside her?

"No." The word came out flat. Dead. "There's no one to call."