All Chapters of He Chose Her Son Over Ours: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

CAUSE OF DEATH: INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE; ASPHYXIA.The words on Lily’s death certificate blurred beneath my tears.Outside my hospital room, people were celebrating.Rebecca Sloan’s son had made it through treatment.My husband stood in the middle of the crowd holding little Leo against his chest, smiling as he played with the boy’s tiny fingers.“I knew he’d pull through,” Ethan said. “Our Leo is a fighter. He’ll get to grow up healthy like every other kid.”The words went straight through me.My daughter had only just turned one month old.She should have grown up too.Instead, she had died in the same hospital where everyone was cheering for another child.The door opened.Ethan came in carrying Leo. His mother, Diane, and Rebecca followed him.The moment he saw I was awake, he smiled and walked toward my bed.“Claire, look. Leo’s treatment worked. The doctors said his odds were terrible, but he made it.”He looked down at the boy affectionately.“He really is lucky.”

Chapter 2

I was so close to breaking that my own voice barely sounded human.Leo started crying at the noise.Ethan’s expression hardened. Diane was shaking with anger.She pointed at me.“My son is wasting the rest of his life on someone like you.“All I ever wanted was a grandson. If you hadn’t given birth to a weak, sickly girl who’s been nothing but a drain on this family, I’d have had one years ago.”From the day Lily was born, Diane had blamed me for everything.According to her, our daughter’s illness was my fault.My genes.My body.My failure to produce the healthy boy she believed the Hale family deserved.After another round of insults, she stormed out.Ethan stayed a moment longer, still soothing Leo, and the look he gave me was hard to read.Then the room finally went quiet.Nurse Bishop came in later to start an IV.I stared at the ceiling until I found enough strength to speak.“Do you know where my daughter is?”She paused.“I want to see her.”Her face changed

Chapter 3

A bitter laugh escaped me, my eyes burning.I couldn’t get the sight of Lily out of my head.She was so small. They had hollowed her out and made a specimen of her, and now she would float in that tank of formalin forever.And even so, Ethan stood there playing dumb.Rebecca pulled Leo protectively behind her and watched me nervously.“Claire, if you’re angry, take it out on me. Don’t blame Ethan. Everything he did, he did for me.“Please don’t let me be the reason your marriage falls apart...”She sounded apologetic.But I caught the satisfaction underneath it.That was the moment I understood something simple.Rebecca could only do this because Ethan let her.Lily would still be alive, and still whole, if he had not chosen Rebecca’s child over his own.My arms fell to my sides.Ethan’s expression softened when he saw how badly I was bleeding.“You don’t have to worry. I keep my promises. There’s no reason to stand here making a scene.“I already said I’d get Lily the b

Chapter 4

Ethan stared at his mother.“Mom. I told you not to bring this up again.“Besides, Claire and I still have Lily—”His eyes shifted toward me automatically.Diane did not care.“Rebecca grew up right beside you. Leo is your godson. He’s tiny, and his condition has only just stabilized. If you’re his father, there’ll be someone to look after him.”Ethan pressed his lips together.He did not reject the idea.That hesitation told me everything. There was nothing steady left in his eyes.Rebecca immediately played the reasonable one.“Ethan, it’s all right if you don’t want to. I can raise Leo myself. Don’t put yourself in a difficult position for my sake.”Diane kept pushing.Ethan looked at me for a long time.Finally, he sighed.“Claire, you heard her. There’s really nothing I can do.“Why don’t we divorce for now? Once Leo is grown and doesn’t need me anymore, we can remarry.”The last piece of hope inside me went out so quietly that I almost felt relief.Of course he c

Chapter 5

Ethan stood in the hospital corridor watching Claire disappear.For the first time, unease settled into his chest.He had never seen that kind of despair in her eyes.But he still didn’t understand.All he had done, in his mind, was take the cord-blood unit.That didn’t automatically mean Lily had no hope.Leo picked up on the mood and started crying in his arms.The sound pulled Ethan back.He immediately began soothing the boy.Rebecca spoke softly beside him.“Don’t worry too much. Claire’s probably upset about what your mother said at dinner. She’s jealous. Give her some time.”Ethan let out a breath and looked away.Rebecca was right. Claire was jealous. In a few weeks she’d come around.The thought settled him considerably.Then something else occurred to him, and he turned back to the doctor still clearing the room.“How’s my daughter doing? I haven’t seen her in a while.”The truth was, Ethan had never been much of a father.From the day Lily was born, he had n

Chapter 6

Everything went black, and Ethan collapsed onto the edge of the hospital bed.“This is impossible. How could I sign something like that for Lily? She was a baby.“How could she be dead—”He was murmuring it with empty eyes.Then he turned on Rebecca, almost hysterical.“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me Lily had died?”Rebecca hugged Leo tightly, her eyes darting away.“Ethan, I didn’t know. The doctor handed me a form and I didn’t read it closely.“I thought it was Leo’s paperwork, so I brought it over to show you, and you just signed it.”His ears were ringing so hard his skull felt like it would split.And then he remembered.His whole mind had been on Leo, fresh out of treatment.When Rebecca held out the form, he had signed his name without so much as glancing at it.Dr. Reyes frowned at her refusal to admit it.“Ms. Sloan, that isn’t what happened. You clearly—”Leo’s scream cut through the room before he could finish.Rebecca fumbled to soothe him, h

Chapter 7

They had hollowed out everything inside her. Whatever organs of his daughter’s were of any use had probably gone into other people by now.“Mr. Hale, without the cord-blood treatment there was nothing anyone could do for her. She missed the window. She died of intracranial bleeding and asphyxia.”Dr. Reyes’s words cut the last thread holding Ethan together.He wept until he was retching.Leo was the grandson his mother had wanted her whole life.Rebecca was not Diane’s biological daughter, but she had raised the girl from childhood, and the bond between them ran deep.Under his mother’s pressure, in a moment of panic, he had driven his car into Claire.There had been one thought in his head at the time.Nothing could happen to Leo.And he had genuinely forgotten that Lily needed the same cord blood.“Why?”Ethan grabbed Dr. Reyes by the coat, his eyes bloodshot.“You told me Lily’s condition was milder than Leo’s. So why is she dead? Why is my daughter dead?”Dr. Reyes, af

Chapter 8

Ethan pressed himself back against the wall, his chest heaving.He pointed at Rebecca.“My lawyer will be in touch.”He dropped it carelessly and walked out of the hospital.He was going to find Claire.No matter how badly they had fought in the past, Claire always forgave him in the end.Surely this time would be the same. She would be at home waiting for him.He drove too fast the whole way.At the front door he stood for several minutes without the nerve to open it, running through the explanation in his head again and again.He would tell her he never read the donation form.He would tell her he had been deceived.He would promise not to marry Rebecca.Finally he took a breath and forced a smile onto his face.Then he shut the door behind him and saw the house, and the smile froze.The rooms were half empty.Almost everything belonging to Claire and Lily was gone.His fists closed without his deciding to. He ran for the bedroom.All of Claire’s clothes had disappea

Chapter 9

“Lily was my daughter. I’m going to see this through to the end.”He regretted it now.If he had been willing to listen to Claire then, would any of this have happened?If he hadn’t taken Lily’s cord blood, would she still be alive?Diane went white with rage.“Fine. Go chase after that woman and her dead baby. Don’t you ever come home again.”Ethan found me while I was with my attorney, Marla Whitfield, gathering evidence.I had never signed the body-donation authorization for Lily.And if he hadn’t put me in the hospital, my daughter would never have died, and she would never have been turned into a specimen.I wasn’t surprised when he walked into the office.His eyes were swollen.He knew the truth now.“Claire.”His voice cracked.“I didn’t mean for any of it. I had no idea what was written on that form.“If I’d known, I never would have signed it. Lily was my daughter too.“Please believe me.”That was the whole of his defense.I laughed.“On the morning of Lily

Chapter 10

Even now, Ethan wanted out from under it.He didn’t think what he had done was unforgivable. He thought Rebecca should carry the greater share.I gave a short laugh.“Whatever you decide to do has nothing to do with me. I’ll be going through the courts.”His shoulders sagged. There was nothing but disappointment in his eyes.He knew it had gone somewhere it couldn’t be brought back from.The room went cold. Then his voice came, hoarse.“Claire, I know what I did. But whatever else, I’m Lily’s father, and I loved her.“I was blinded for a while. My mother wanted a grandson, and after you had a sickly daughter she had nothing but complaints about you.“I did it to take the pressure off you. It was the only way I could think of to turn her attention somewhere else.“I’m sorry, Claire. It really was out of my hands.”He said it weakly, and the explanation was almost funny.After that day, Ethan disappeared.I assumed he had given up and gone to accept reality.Two months late

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