優しい三途の川の渡り方

A LAVISH mansion in Texas was in chaos as the young lady of the house, Hannah Miller was about to give birth to her first child. 

The servants are in a hurry to usher her to the car, but she hesitates as her husband hasn’t returned from work yet. The contractions are getting stronger as if the child was in a hurry to burst out of her.

Mrs. Cooperfield, the oldest maid in the Miller mansion, called her young master to give him the good news. 

Her call was answered within two rings.

“Sir, your wife’s water broke. We’re going to the hospital now,” Mrs. Cooperfield frantically mumbles over the phone while the heavily pregnant Hannah is being escorted to the car by other servants.

Xander scoffed, “I'm at a very important meeting. She has money on her account to pay for the expenses.” He yelled over the phone, almost deafening Mrs. Copperfield.

She’s about to reason with him about the importance of being present during the birth of his child but before she could say a word the line was cut off.

Mrs. Copperfield then followed Hannah in the car.

Guiltily she stared at the pregnant woman who was experiencing excruciating pain. 

Hannah's forehead was full of cold sweat and her lips were pale. It's been known that she has anemia and the doctors did their best to cure her before giving birth to no luck. “What did Xander say?” She asks nicely in a weak voice, her eyes are closed and her palms are sweating.

Mrs. Copperfield could only lower her head and swallow slowly. She needs to lie for the young master again, something that all of the maids in the mansion do. 

She clears her throat trying her best to sound believable. “The young master was elated to know that the baby was on the way. He said he was caught in the middle of an important meeting but will surely drive to the hospital once he is done.” She mumbles gleefully. The tone of her voice did not match the sorrowful look on her face.

It's not a secret that Xander never loved Hannah and their marriage was an accident but despite that Hannah played the part and played it so well that Xander bed her every chance he could. Thus, a child was conceived. 

Hannah smiled. “Did you hear that, your father is excited to see you.” She mumbled while caressing her belly. “I hope he won’t be this busy next time.” She added as she slowly opened her eyes.

Mrs. Copperfield could only look away as the expression on her face might reveal the truth.

Soon Hannah was driven to the hospital.

~

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Push!" The doctor yells to the exhausted woman lying on the operating table. Soon a sound of innocent cry can be heard in the room. 

“What a cute baby girl?” the nurse says as she puts the baby near her mother to see her face for the first time. The exhausted woman felt all her fatigue and stress washed away as she saw her daughter. 

“She’s breathtaking.” She mumbles while staring at her newborn. 

Soon exhaustion consumed her, and when she woke up she was in the ward with her baby near her. She slowly stood up from the bed and marched to her sleeping child.

As a first-time mother Hannah is so gentle when holding her baby. “Look how small she is.” She says while her eyes redden in happiness.

“She is, she is perfect, Mrs. Miller. She got your nose and your cheeks." Mrs. Copperfield says as she stares at the child. Mrs. Copperfield is a 50-year-old maid from the Miller family. She took care of Hannah during her pregnancy up until the day that she gave birth.

"What would you name her?" Mrs. Copperfield asks. 

"Bridget." She mumbles gently as she stares at her daughter. 

Her eyes are still fixed on her child when she asks, “When will Xander visit us?”

Mrs. Copperfield did not respond but she could see the sadness in her eyes. 

“He must be busy, it's the company’s annual review.” She says trying to coax herself that her husband might be doing something important. At the back of her mind; “what's more important than seeing the birth of his own daughter?” She asks herself sorrowfully. 

~

Hannah has been in the hospital for almost a week now due to complications and not even once did any of the Millers visit her. Only Mrs. Copperfield was there to help her and tried her best to put good words for her employers. 

“They are busy decorating the baby’s room.” She says.

Hannah smiles every time but she knows how it is. She knew how it always is. 

Lani Miller, her mother-in-law. Will never in a million years accept her for his son and the daughter she gave birth to will never be accepted as well. For Lani, she’s just a gold digger that hit a jackpot. A good-for-nothing money-sucking woman.

Katarina Miller, her sister-in-law. Xander’s only sibling, the spoiled brat. Not even once said anything nice to her. During her pregnancy, she even called her a pig and an elephant after gaining a few pounds of weight.

Lastly, her husband. Xander Miller is a great businessman but a stone-cold husband despite that she still wishes he'd be a good father. 

“Xander is a workaholic. He is just busy at work,” she keeps on repeating as if it’s her mantra.

AFTER two years...

A toddler was running around the room while Hannah was following her. “Bridget, stop running. I need to comb your hair!” She yells. The child only laughed at her mother and continued running. She then almost bumps her head into the tall figure of a man who suddenly shows up in front of her. She gazes upward, she’s frightened.

His towering height and the way he stares at her terrifies her and she starts crying. Hannah immediately carried her daughter and coaxed her. 

“Baby, don’t cry, it's just your father.” She says. 

Xander sneered. He hates the sound his daughter makes. The running. The laughter and now the crying.

“Make her stop.” He yells. His voice scared the child even more and she cried louder.

“Yelling, will not help. You’re scaring her even more.” She responded with her voice filled with sorrow. She glanced at him with contempt. 

“Why are you even here? This is our room, we’re even far from your room and your study so we won’t disturb you.” She commented.

“Yeah, this is your room but this is my house. I can go wherever I want.” He yelled at her. 

Bridget is still crying. Mrs. Copperfield can hear it and she discreetly enters the room to take the child away.

Hannah glanced at Mrs. Copperfield with a thankful gaze. Once they are out of the room. 

She finally snapped at him.

“What do you want?” The moment she said those words she met Xander’s palm.

Bam!

She almost lost consciousness. She fell on the floor. Her head is spinning. This was the first time he hit her and it frightened her so much that she started to crawl away from him. Thinking he might hit her again.

Xander’s eyes widened; he didn’t mean to hurt her. He is on edge, pressured, and stressed from work. He held her shoulders and helped her stand up. He sat her in the chair. He could see her cheek reddened.

He then heard her weak trembling voice say, “I did everything you asked of me. I know you’re tired and stressed but I’m exhausted too.” She explains while holding her throbbing cheek. 

He didn’t respond.  He is a man of few words and the word sorry is not one of the words he usually says nor the to accept that he is in the wrong. 

He only strokes her head as if coaxing a child to fall asleep. After several hours when both of their emotions subside. Xander finally broke the news to her.

"Let's get divorce." He mumbles in a cold tone.

Her face paled, hands trembled. She stared at him thinking how he said those words as if three years meant nothing. 

His eyes devoid of emotions, "You have till the end of the month to read through the documents and make demands." He added as he handed her the papers. 

She pleads to him to think it through and think of their daughter's future.

But her words were ignored. She saw how certain he was with his decision. 

Shortly, he left her with the documents.

The night became sleepless. She was pacing back and forth in their room thinking what to do next. “What will happen once I sign the divorce papers?” She asks herself while staring at her sleeping daughter.