The Surgeon's Wife He Threw Away

Five months pregnant, the prenatal scan flagged a suspected congenital heart defect in my baby.

I sent the report to my husband, the head of cardiothoracic surgery.

The man who usually took ages to reply answered in a heartbeat this time

*Do you even need to ask? You don't have an ounce of common sense about having a healthy baby.*

I couldn't bear to let the child go, so I asked him to look at the report more carefully.

He only grew impatient

*Who told you to be in such a rush to get pregnant?*

*Instead of wasting time on this, get the procedure done, recover properly, and try again later.*

The next second, for the first time ever, he sent me a romantic cash gift through the payment app.

Unwilling to give up, I went to his department, only to catch the back of him as he rushed into the operating room.

He heard me cry out and didn't even turn his head

We'll talk when I'm done!

But I didn't want to wait anymore.

I turned to leave, and one of Chester Simmons's interns caught my arm

Don't be upset with Dr. Simmons. These past two months he's been run ragged taking care of my mom. Once her surgery's over, he'll finally have time for you and the baby.

So that was it. For the past two months, all his overtime, all those nights he slept at the hospital for days on end, had been for Claire Delgado's mother.

On the rare night he came home, he dropped straight into bed, too exhausted to even talk to me.

Claire handed me a food container

My mom loves the chicken soup you make. She says once she's discharged, she's going to cook you a real meal as a thank-you. You have to let her, okay?

I looked down at the container, my eyes stinging.

My morning sickness had been brutal, and the only thing I could keep down was the farm chicken my mother shipped to me.

Two months ago, Chester had suddenly started asking me to bring him meals every day.

He made a point of saying to include the chicken soup, or he'd have no appetite.

I teased him about catching my symptoms, and that iceberg of a man pretended to gag a few times and laughed and said yes.

That laugh dazzled me. It made me believe he loved me, and loved the child inside me.

It never once crossed my mind that he wanted the soup so he could pass off my gift as his own.

That he laughed only to cover the lie.

I took the container, turned, and went back to obstetrics, and asked the doctor to schedule the procedure.

Dr. Lawrence looked a little surprised

Your husband finished reviewing it already?

That can't be right, he never even ordered a follow-up scan. He must've been too busy to look at it for you. Why don't you go to the hospital next door? My old classmate is a cardiothoracic specialist too

I gave Dr. Lawrence a bitter smile and turned down her kindness.

It wasn't that Chester had no time to look at it for me. He was simply too busy.

Too busy with his patients, too busy with surgery, too busy caring for Claire and her mother.

A child no one wanted had no reason to come into this world.

After the induced labor, the bleeding wasn't normal, so I had to be admitted.

I was sleeping heavily in the hospital bed when Chester called

Aria, where did you go so early? Why aren't you home? You didn't even make the chicken soup!

I glanced at the time. It was already the next morning.

I couldn't help finding it funny.

He'd been home all night and never noticed I wasn't there.

He only realized it when he was about to head out and needed soup to bring to Claire's mother.

I'm at the hospital.

He paused for a beat

Another prenatal check today? I'll come keep you company.

I didn't refuse.

Some things were better said face to face.

Chester came to my bedside, his brow furrowed

Aria, beds here are always tight. It's just a prenatal check. How could you use my name to tie up our medical resources like this?

He looked at how pale my face was and added

Don't let it happen again. I'll go handle your discharge.

I caught his hand and said flatly

"I went through with the induced labor. The doctors are the ones who admitted me."

Chester's whole body jerked, and he whipped his head around to look at me.

"What did you say?"

"Just like you wanted. I lost the baby."

His hand closed into a fist, and the displeasure poured off him.

"What do you mean, like I wanted? There was nothing wrong, so why would you go through with it? Why didn't you tell me? Didn't I say to wait until I was free and I'd look at the scan myself?"

I watched the anger on his face, cold, not understanding what he thought he had any right to be angry about.

"You're the one who told me to do it."

His whole body went rigid. He denied it flat out.

"When did I ever"

Something seemed to occur to him. He pulled out his phone and scrolled back through our messages.

His face went green, then red, then drained to white.

"I was just too busy, so I had Claire look at the scan for you. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the baby. I didn't know she'd say that to you"

Now it was my turn to freeze.

The man who usually took hours to answer me hadn't just replied in seconds yesterday.

He'd even sent me a romantic cash gift through the app.

It had been the intern the whole time.

The Chester I used to know couldn't stand anyone touching his phone.

That one time, when his parents were fighting and I was only trying to calm his mother, I asked him for his passcode so I could send her some money through the app.

He'd flown into a rage and accused me of having no sense of boundaries.

And now he'd handed his phone to an intern, let her read our baby's scan, let her decide whether our child lived or died.

He'd even given her his payment password to send me money.

And he'd trusted Claire Delgado so completely that a full day had gone by and he still hadn't bothered to check what she'd written back to me.

Or maybe he just didn't want to open the chat with me at all.

Chester zoomed in on the scan I'd sent, studied it for a moment, then rounded on me.

"I didn't have time to look at the report, so why couldn't you find someone else? These things usually aren't anything serious!"

"I'm not the only cardiac surgeon in this hospital. Are you that stupid, or did you get rid of our baby on purpose?"

"Just because I was too busy to answer you right away?"

One furious question after another, until they shook a wet, broken laugh out of me.

I really was stupid.

Stupid enough to think that hearing I'd actually lost the baby, he might say two kind words to me.

I pointed at that last message, the one that read better than wasting time, just get the surgery over with, and threw it back at him.

"You're my husband, and the head of cardiothoracic surgery. When you tell me to get the surgery, isn't that a death sentence for our child?"

"Did I not go to your department? You'd called away every surgeon to operate on Claire Delgado's mother. You're the one who told me to wait until you were done!"

Chester opened his mouth to argue back.

"I already told you, that wasn't me who replied!"

"Why couldn't you wait? Wait until I was finished? Claire's mother is a patient, waiting on surgery to save her life! What was the rush?"

But I just didn't want to wait anymore.

He was the one who'd chased me in the beginning, and yet through all of it, dating and marriage alike, it had always been me chasing after him.

Waiting for him to find a moment to answer me, waiting for him to keep me company, waiting for him to say he loved me.

The more used to waiting I got, the more I felt like I was no different from someone living completely alone.

I couldn't take it, the house that should have been full of life, the bed meant for two, always so cold.

So I begged him for a child.

At first he refused. He wanted to wait until he was thirty-five.

But by the time he turned thirty-five, I'd be a high-risk mother.

So I used a little trick and got pregnant.

When he found out, the truth was he wasn't happy about it.

But he still held me, his voice thick when he spoke.

"Claire, thank you. I'm going to be a father!"

After that he threw himself into work even harder, saying he had to earn the money for our baby's formula.

I'd thought this child would be the thing that saved our marriage.

I never imagined Claire Delgado would come out of nowhere and ruin it.

Meeting my cold stare, Chester rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"You don't believe me?"

I said nothing.

He sounded utterly worn out.

"The day before yesterday I was in surgery for eight straight hours. I was exhausted. That's why I let Claire answer your messages for me."

"I never once wanted you to get rid of the baby!"

The old me would have backed down the moment he said he was tired, no matter how much it hurt.

I would have swallowed every feeling and dealt with it alone.

But this time, I wanted an answer for my child.

"Oh? Then ask her why she told me to go through with it!"

Chester went silent.

He held his phone and didn't move for a long while.

Frustrated, he went out to the balcony of the inpatient ward and smoked two cigarettes before coming back in.

"This part is on me. It has nothing to do with Claire. Don't blame her. Her mother's seriously ill, she's had a hard time of it..."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Claire burst into the room in tears and dropped to her knees at my bedside.

"I'm so sorry! I misread the report. I thought the baby had already been diagnosed with a heart defect, that's why I told you to terminate. Make me kneel as long as you want, just don't take it out on Dr. Simmons!"

Before I could say a word, Chester pulled her up and tucked her behind him like he was shielding his own.

He looked at me, and his eyes were full of disappointment.

"Didn't I already tell you? This isn't Claire's fault. What gives you the right to make her kneel?"

"It's just one baby. We can always have another!"

"And when I said there probably wouldn't be a problem, that wasn't a guarantee. Maybe if you'd carried it to term the baby really would have had a heart condition. Ending it was being responsible, for the child and for us!"

I hadn't accused anyone of anything yet, and already the two of them were closing ranks to protect each other.

I swallowed every question. All at once, I had no desire left to argue.

The baby was already gone. What was the point of saying any of this?

For that matter, this marriage felt pointless too.

"Chester, let's get a divorce."

"What?"

He stared at me, disbelief all over his face.

"Over something this small, you want a divorce?"

"You really aren't thinking straight. It's just as well the baby's gone. Better than it being stuck with a mother like you who doesn't know what she's doing!"

He took Claire's hand and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Not once, start to finish, did he ask if I hurt, if I was all right.

Blood ran out of me, warm and fast, and my vision went dark in waves.

On instinct, I pressed the call button.

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was a nurse shouting.

"Hurry! She's hemorrhaging!"

When I came to again, there was still no one beside me, only a cold draft cutting across my body like a blade.

Dr. Lawrence hung his head, unable to look at me.

"Aria, just swallow your pride with that husband of yours and have him get you a bed. You've just lost the baby. You can't be lying out here..."

I made out where I was, on a gurney in the hallway outside the restroom. I bit down hard on my lip and let the taste of blood spread through my mouth.

It was a long time before I spoke.

"There's no need."

Chester had called me out of my mind. He wasn't wrong.

If I hadn't been so blinded by love, why would I have given up the comfortable life of a Rowe heiress in New York to come to L.A. and scrape by with him?

Dr. Lawrence couldn't bear it. He lowered his voice.

"That husband of yours is a stubborn man, but a little coaxing usually does the trick. Look at that intern. A few sweet words and she's got him treating her mother like his own. You could stand to learn from her. Then you wouldn't be suffering like this!"

I shook my head with a bitter smile.

Claire could coax Chester into loving everything that came with her, and it wasn't because she had a sweet tongue.

It was because of who she was.

Three years of dating, two years of marriage. How could I not know Chester gave in to softness and never to force?

But five years of coaxing him hadn't bought a single last glance at my child.

Which mattered more was no longer a question. The verdict was already in.

So why keep playing the fool, debasing myself to beg for some scrap of love too small to matter?

Let the cold wind clear my head. Let it knock the lovesickness out of me.

After Dr. Lawrence left, I dialed a number.

"Dad. Chester's invitation to the international medical forumcancel it."

Then I called a lawyer to draw up the divorce papers.

When I went to the nurses' station to borrow the printer, I heard a young one pointing at a video, squealing.

"God, Dr. Simmons is so handsome when he smiles! My heart just melted!"

Another nurse scoffed.

"You could rip your heart out and it wouldn't matter. He doesn't smile at his own wife. That smile's only for the intern and her mother."

"His wife hemorrhaged, they're trying to save her, and you know what he said?"

"What?"

"See for yourself."

I took a couple of steps closer.

Close enough to finally see the video clearly.

One look, and the blood in my veins turned to ice.

"There are doctors in the ER, aren't there? What do you need me for? She got rid of the baby herself. A little suffering will teach her a lesson."

In the video, Chester gave a long look toward the ER, then turned and walked into Lois Delgado's room.

A nurse asked him to sign for my emergency treatment. He refused without a flicker of feeling.

"She can sign it herself when she wakes up. I'll cover the bill, but keep her away from me."

The footage cut to him sitting at the bedside, peeling fruit for Claire and her mother.

Then carefully feeding the cut pieces to Lois.

I couldn't help thinking of last year, when I'd broken my right arm and couldn't manage on my own. I'd leaned into him, playful, asking him to feed me, to peel my fruit.

He'd said:

"My hands are for surgery, not for spoon-feeding you and peeling fruit."

The bleakness of it swallowed me whole, drained every ounce of strength from my body.

I swayed, stumbled, and the sound startled the young nurses.

They turned, saw the white of my face, and scrambled to lock their phones.

"Aria, are you all right? We're sorry, we shouldn't have been gossiping about you"

I gave a bitter little laugh.

"You didn't do anything wrong. There's nothing to apologize for."

The one who owed me an apology was Chester.

Watching me print the divorce agreement, the nurses tried to talk me out of it.

"Don't! If you actually divorce him, won't that just hand the intern exactly what she wants? We all know she's been deliberately throwing herself at Dr. Simmons, but he's never once given her the time of day"

Is that so?

If he truly hadn't, why treat another woman's mother better than he ever treated me?

I picked up the pen, signed my name stroke by careful stroke, and went to cardiothoracic surgery to find Chester.

But he wasn't there.

A doctor from his department wouldn't quite meet my eyes.

"Dr. Simmons took some personal time off. Maybe come back tomorrow?"

On the way back to my room, I overheard two patients griping.

"What's the deal with Dr. Simmons? My dad finally gets bumped up for surgery, and now the man takes the day off!"

"Tell me about it. Rotten luck. My nephew's surgery was supposed to be today too, and it got pushed."

I don't remember how I made it back to my room.

By the time I came to, I'd already pulled up Claire Delgado's social media.

Of course. Chester had taken half a day off to be with her.

In one of the photos she'd posted, the hand holding the cakeI'd know it anywhere.

Five years together, and Chester had never once taken a single day off for me.

He held his work above every holiday, every anniversary we had.

And now, for Claire Delgado's birthday, he hadn't just taken time off. He'd pushed back two surgeries.

The last thread of feeling in my heart dissolved completely.

Early the next morning, after finishing the discharge paperwork, I went to his office to leave the divorce agreement.

Chester was already storming out the door when I arrived.

The second he saw me his eyes went bloodshot, and he grabbed me by the collar.

"Aria, fine, fight with me all you want. But why go after Claire's mother?"

"I finally pulled off her surgery, and you, over some dead baby, want her dead?"

"I didn't!" The denial came out on instinct.

He didn't believe me. He dragged me into the hospital room by force.

"Get down on your knees. Apologize to Claire's mother properly. Beg her to forgive you!"

I wouldn't kneel. I dug in and demanded the security footage to clear my name.

Chester clenched his jaw and told the monitoring room to pull it up.

But Claire was already holding out her phone, eyes brimming with tears.

"I know I was wrong about the report, big sister. But if you're angry, take it out on me. Why would you hurt my mom?"

Chester glanced at the video, then asked me through gritted teeth.

"The evidence is right here. Are you still going to lie your way out of it?"

I stared at the figure in the footage, suited up and masked, sneaking into the room to swap out the medication, and something in my chest twisted like a blade.

Five years sharing the same bed, and Chester couldn't recognize the shape of his own wife.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

But the tears were already falling, fast and out of my control.

They landed on the back of his hand. His whole body stiffened, yet his face stayed dark.

"So now you're scared? Where was the fear when you were hurting someone?"

"If I hadn't caught it in time, you'd be a murderer right now!"

I wiped my eyes and pulled out my phone.

"Then call the police. Let them investigate!"

He snatched the phone away and smashed it on the floor.

"Aria, can you stop being so ungrateful?"

"You keep making a scene, do you think I'll have any standing left at this hospital?"

"All you have to do is admit you were wrong to Claire's mother and this is over. Otherwise I'll seriously reconsider our relationship!"

His gaze slid to the divorce agreement in my hand. He didn't need to say the rest.

All at once, the tension drained out of me.

"I did nothing wrong!"

"Sign it!"

He looked at the stubborn lift of my chin, the way I was fighting to keep the tears from spilling, and an unease he couldn't name rose in him.

Just as he picked up the pen and set it back down, Claire suddenly grabbed the fruit knife off the table and drove it hard into her own stomach.

"Big sister, everything is my fault, all of it!"

"I cost you your child. I'll pay you back with my life! Just stop torturing my mom!"

"No!"

Chester shoved me away and lunged forward, closing his hand around the knife already half-buried in her.

He begged Claire, his voice breaking.

"Claire, don't be a fool! She aborted her own child. What does that have to do with you? Don't punish yourself for someone else's mistake!"

I dropped to the floor, my head hitting the fire hydrant, and something warm pulsed out against my scalp.

I lifted my head to call for help, but not a single word would come.

I only saw Chester clamp his most precious right hand around that blade, holding it back from sinking deeper into Claire.

Then he used that blood-soaked hand to sign the divorce agreement.

"You've made this big enough. Happy now?"

The moment it was done, he scooped me up and carried me straight toward the emergency room.

He never noticed that I had gone into shock from blood loss.

Behind me, Claire's mother rose from the hospital bed and slammed her foot into my stomach.

"Fighting my daughter for a man, you really are begging to die!"

In the trauma room again, dragged back through death's door, I didn't hesitate to dial a number.

"Hey. I lost. A bet's a bet. Is the deal still good?"

"Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

Half an hour later, I left from the hospital rooftop by helicopter.

By the time Chester finished closing Claire's wound and calming her down, it was deep into the night.

He went to her ward and was told she had already checked out and gone.

The unease in his chest swelled, and he pulled out his phone and called her.

No one answered.

Instead, one of the young nurses brought him a document envelope.

"Aria asked us to give this to you."

Chester frowned as he took it and tore it open.

One glance, and his whole body went rigid, the color draining from his face.