Chapter 3: The Divorce Papers

Brielle’s POV

“I won’t tell him,” Martha had promised in the ambulance. I held on to those words as the light above me came into focus. An IV tugged at the back of my hand, and my wrist ached beneath thick bandages. The side of my head throbbed.

Martha sat beside the bed with her hands folded in her lap. When she noticed I was awake, she leaned forward. “Miss Brielle, you're awake. Don't try to sit up yet, just breathe.”

“Where am I?”

“At the hospital. Arthur and I brought you here last night, and the doctors have been watching you closely.”

I slipped my good hand beneath the blanket and pressed it against my stomach. The familiar roundness was gone, and panic rushed through me. “The babies, Martha. Are they all right?”

“The doctor is coming to explain everything. Please, just hold on.”

“Did Gideon come? Has he called?”

Martha looked down before meeting my eyes again. “No. He hasn't been here, and there haven't been any calls.”

I stared at her, trying to understand how he could leave me on those stairs and not even ask whether I had survived. “I need to know about my babies.”

The door opened, and a man in a white coat entered with a folder. “Mrs. Shaw, I'm Dr. Hale. How are you feeling? How is the pain in your head and wrist?”

“It's manageable. Please tell me about my babies.”

He opened the folder. “You were about twenty-five weeks pregnant with twins. The fall caused severe bleeding, and the placenta had begun separating from your uterus before the babies were ready to be born.”

My hand pressed harder against my stomach.

“The bleeding was severe. We had to deliver them early.”

I stared at him. “Both of them?”

“They were delivered very prematurely. I’m sorry, but the baby girl did not survive.”

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

“Your son was born alive, but he is extremely premature. He’s in intensive care and needs help breathing and feeding. The next several days will be critical.”

“The girl is gone?” My voice broke.

“I'm very sorry.”

Martha rested a hand on my arm, but I couldn't look away from the doctor. “Was there nothing else you could do? Can I at least see her?”

“I’m afraid she didn’t survive. We can discuss arrangements. Focus on your recovery.”

I swallowed hard. “Can I see my son?”

“Once you're stable enough to leave this room with assistance, we'll arrange it. He's receiving the care he needs.”

I stared at the ceiling, then whispered the names I'd chosen only days earlier. “Her name was Alice, and the boy is Ellis.”

Dr. Hale made a note. “Alice and Ellis. Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure the records reflect that.”

“I want to see Ellis as soon as you'll allow it, even if it's only through the glass. I need him to know I'm here.”

“I'll speak with the nurses and arrange a visit as soon as your condition allows. Try to rest until then.”

After he left, Martha squeezed my hand. “I'm right here, Miss Brielle. Whatever you need.”

Nurses came and went throughout the day, checking the machines, adjusting my IV and asking about my pain. Martha never left the chair, and whenever I woke from a short sleep, she was still there. Later, a nurse returned with a wheelchair.

“Dr. Hale has approved a short visit. We'll take you carefully, and Martha can come along.”

They helped me into the chair, and Martha walked beside me as we went down the corridor, into an elevator and onto another floor. The neonatal unit was quiet except for the soft beeping of machines. They stopped me in front of a large window, where a tiny clear incubator stood beneath bright lights, surrounded by tubes and monitors.

I pressed my good hand against the glass. My throat tightened when I saw the tiny form inside.

“Ellis,” I whispered. “I'm here. I'm your mother, and you're going to be all right. I'll make sure of it.”

His small chest rose and fell beneath the support around him. I leaned closer, wishing I could hold him.

“You're so little, sweetheart, but you have to be strong for both of us now. Alice isn't here, but I am, and I won't leave you.”

Martha stood behind me. “He's fighting, Miss Brielle. Keep talking to him.”

I watched his tiny body for a long moment before they wheeled me back to my room. “He's smaller than I imagined,” I said.

“He's receiving the care he needs. That's what matters right now.”

I nodded, though the worry stayed with me. I wanted to return to him, but my body was still too weak.

A while later, the door opened again. This time, it wasn't a nurse.

Gideon stepped inside wearing a dark coat over the same clothes from the night before. He held a thin folder and stopped a few feet from the bed, looking at me as though he were checking on a stranger.

Martha stood. “Mr. Shaw...”

“I'd like a moment alone with my wife.”

She looked at me, and I gave a small nod. After squeezing my arm, she walked out and closed the door.

Gideon placed the folder on the rolling table beside my bed. He didn't sit. “I won't take long. The lawyers drew these up this morning. It's a clean split. You keep what you brought into the marriage, I keep what's mine, and neither of us makes claims against the other.”

I stared at the folder. “Divorce papers.”

“Yes.”

“You didn't even ask how I was.”

“I was told you were stable. That's all I needed to know.”

My fingers tightened around the sheet. “You left me on the stairs, carried Lucy out and never looked back. Now you've come here with divorce papers.”

“You made your choices,” he replied. “The video, Everett. I won't stay married to someone who betrays me.”

“I told you the video was manipulated, but you wouldn't listen.”

“And I told you I don't believe it.”

“You didn't even give me a chance to explain what happened.”

“I've heard enough, Brielle.”

“No, you haven't. You saw what you wanted to see and decided I was guilty before I could tell you the truth.”

His jaw tightened. “I'm not going to argue about this. Sign when you're ready, and my lawyer will handle the rest. You can stay in the house until the end of the month. After that, I'll expect you to leave.”

I looked at him, at the same face that once smiled at me across a kitchen table, and wondered how it had become so unfamiliar.

I was carrying your children. One of them is gone because of that fall, and the other is fighting for his life two floors below.

I almost told him about Ellis, the tiny boy in intensive care who shared his blood. But then I remembered Gideon carrying Lucy away while I lay bleeding on the stairs. He hadn't slowed down or even turned to look at me. He hadn't called to ask whether I was alive.

If he learned about Ellis, he could try to take him. He had the money, the lawyers and the family name. He could decide I was unfit to raise our son, or that the child belonged with him. I couldn't risk losing the only baby I had left.

So I kept quiet.

Gideon waited a moment, then turned towards the door. “Have the papers sent back signed. Or don't. Either way, this marriage is finished.”

He left, and the door clicked shut behind him.

When Martha returned, her eyes went straight to the folder. “He brought those?”

“Yes.”

She picked them up, glanced at the first page and placed them farther away from the bed. “You don't have to look at them right now.”

“I'm not signing anything today, but I won't fight him either. Not yet.”

Martha studied me. “What are you thinking, Miss Brielle?”

I looked towards the door, then back at her. “He doesn't know about Ellis, and he isn't going to know until I'm strong enough to protect my son. I need to be sure no one can take him from me.”

Martha nodded. “Then we'll keep it that way. Whatever you need, I'm with you.”

I closed my eyes. Gideon had taken my marriage, and the fall had taken Alice, but Ellis was still here.

He was all I had left, and I would protect him.

Martha watched me. “What will you do if Gideon ever comes looking for his son?”