After Postpartum Care He Falsely Claimed I Cheated, I Divorced

After I gave birth to Miles James's daughter, my pelvic floor tore badly.

The doctor told Miles I couldn't resume any sex life.

He agreed with a smile, said my health mattered most.

Then my sister, Nora Henson, sent him a video.

In it, I was doing my postpartum recovery training.

The male therapist was crouched in front of me, one hand steadying my waist, the other helping me adjust how my pelvis engaged.

Miles tossed the phone down and let out a cold laugh.

"Mabel Henson, three whole months you wouldn't let me touch you."

"Turns out it's just me you can't stand touching you?"

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

"This is rehab therapy."

Nora rushed over at once, eyes reddening, and grabbed his arm.

"Miles, don't talk about her like that."

"After a woman gives birth, her hormones are all over the place. It's normal for her needs to suddenly get stronger."

"Mr. Simmons works with new mothers every day. Maybe... he really does understand her better than you do."

Miles's face went completely cold.

"I've worked plenty of sexual assault cases."

"Whether a man touching you is treatment, or something you want yourself, I can tell the difference."

In that moment, it hit me.

This man, who had once spoken up for countless women who'd been hurt.

He didn't seem worth loving anymore.

Miles looked at me coldly.

"Mabel, starting tomorrow, you stop the postpartum training."

I shook my head.

"I won't stop."

His face darkened.

I kept going.

"The doctor just told me yesterday my wound has some fresh bleeding again. I have to go back in tomorrow for a check."

"I'm not going to gamble with my own body over a few paranoid ideas you can't even explain."

Nora came over right away.

"Sis, Miles just cares about you too much. Don't fight with him over a rehab therapist."

My head snapped around.

"What do you mean, over a rehab therapist?"

Her shoulders shrank in fright, and her eyes went red in an instant.

"I'm sorry, Sis."

"I just think Mr. Simmons really does understand your body best right now."

Then, as if it had suddenly dawned on her, she waved her hands in a panic.

"I didn't mean it like that! Miles, don't read into it."

But his face had already gone black.

"Understands her body best?"

Nora bit her lip, and tears dropped down.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have said anything."

Miles just patted her hand.

"What does it have to do with you?"

"She's the one with a guilty conscience."

I couldn't be bothered to explain any further and turned to go back to my room.

Early the next morning.

I got dressed and had just reached the door.

Miles stepped in front of me.

"Where are you going?"

"The hospital."

"Was I not clear enough yesterday?"

I looked up at him.

"I was clear too. I need the checkup. My wound bled again last night. I have to go for treatment today."

Nora heard our voices and came running out.

"Miles, don't do this. Her health comes first."

"And Mr. Simmons really does understand her better than anyone else."

"Every time she comes back from him, she's positively glowing."

She paused, then, as if terrified Miles would take it the wrong way, hurried to explain.

"I mean her physical condition! Nothing else."

Miles's face grew uglier by the second.

I couldn't hold back and snapped at her.

"Nora, shut up!"

Her tears spilled at once.

"Sis... I really am doing this for your own good."

"Your hormones aren't stable after the birth. Having needs is nothing to be ashamed of."

"You don't have to blow up at me over it..."

I knocked the cup right out of her hand.

"I'm only going to the hospital for rehab, and you keep going on about needs. Who's really got a filthy mind here?"

Miles finally lost it completely.

"Enough!"

He snatched my phone from me.

He took the car keys too.

"You're not going anywhere today. When you've calmed down, we'll talk."

He grabbed my wrist and shoved me into the bedroom.

I lost my footing, and my lower belly dropped hard.

The wound that had barely started to heal shot through with pain.

The door locked from the outside.

No phone in the room. No water.

No matter how I pounded on the door, there was never a single sound in answer.

A few hours later, my lower belly started to feel heavy and dragging.

Little by little, the pain grew sharper.

Like someone deep inside me kept pulling downward.

I gripped the bed and pushed myself up.

I'd barely taken one step when there was a sudden warmth below.

I looked down. A small patch of bright red had already spread across my sleep pants.

My heart lurched into panic.

The doctor had warned me over and over.

At this stage, the greatest danger was the wound splitting open again.

And above all, no visible fresh blood.

I stumbled to the door and pounded on it again with everything I had.

"Miles! Open the door!"

"I'm bleeding!"

Downstairs went quiet for a moment.

Then I faintly heard Nora say,

"Miles, it really seems like something's wrong with my sister"

Footsteps started up.

I leaned against the door and let out a breath.

But then Nora's voice dropped low again.

"But she said she was in pain yesterday too."

"And the second she heard she could see Dr. Simmons today, she perked right up."

The footsteps stopped. Miles didn't come up.

I closed my eyes, and the tears fell before I could stop them.

The pain kept getting worse.

The blood kept spreading, bit by bit.

It wasn't until afternoon, when the baby nanny arrived for her shift.

She heard me pounding on the door and scrambled to find the spare key.

The door swung open.

She saw the blood on my pants, and the color drained from her face.

"Ma'am! Why are you bleeding so much!"

I didn't have the strength to answer.

I just braced myself on the wall and made my way out, one step at a time.

Miles wasn't home.

Nora wasn't there either.

I called a car and went to the hospital myself.

When the exam was over, the doctor's face was grim.

"The wound is showing signs of tearing again, and there's inflammation. We'll have to treat it all over."

The pain had my fingertips trembling.

"Will it affect my recovery?"

The doctor sighed.

"If this keeps happening, you could be looking at chronic pain, incontinence, scar adhesions."

"In serious cases, it can affect normal marital relations and any future pregnancy."

When I got home that night, the living room lights were on.

Nora was holding my daughter, Poppy.

There was a bottle in her hand.

One look, and my face went cold.

"What are you giving her?"

I rushed over and snatched the bottle away.

"Are you insane? Poppy has a severe milk protein allergy!"

"She already ended up in the hospital last month from getting it wrong once!"

Nora went pale, startled.

"Sis, she was just crying so pitifully"

The study door opened, and Miles came out.

"Now what?"

He heard the whole thing and only glanced at the baby.

"She didn't actually drink it, did she?"

I stared at him, not believing it.

"So Poppy has to actually go into anaphylactic shock before you people take this seriously?"

He was plainly out of patience.

"Mabel, she already apologized. Why do you keep hammering on it?"

Nora shook her head quickly.

"Miles, don't be hard on my sister."

"She wasn't feeling well today to begin with, and she still snuck off to see Dr. Simmons for her postpartum rehab"

Before she could finish, Miles hurled the cup in his hand to the floor.

"Mabel, is there nothing in your head but men?"

Nora rushed to stand in front of me.

"Sis, don't be angry with him. He really is just worried about you."

"Dr. Simmons is a man, and during the sessions he's got his hands on your waist every day, touching your body."

"What husband would be okay watching that?"

I laughed, suddenly.

"Fine. Then the two of you have a good life together."

I turned and walked away.

Miles didn't stop me.

But the next day, when I got to the hospital.

The nurse on duty looked a little awkward.

"Ms. Henson, Dr. Simmons can't see patients today."

My heart sank.

"Why not?"

"He's been temporarily suspended pending an investigation. Someone filed a complaint about improper physical contact with female patients."

I understood at once.

Back home.

I asked Miles straight out.

"Was it you?"

He sat on the couch, expression calm.

"I only had the hospital look into it."

"If he's really got nothing to hide, what's there to be afraid of?"

I looked at him for a long time, then asked quietly,

"Are you protecting me? Or punishing me for not letting you touch me?"

Miles's face darkened all at once.

Nora had just come out of the nursery.

She walked up to me.

"Sis, Miles has done everything he could for you."

"And you, for that Dr. Simmons"

She trailed off as if she couldn't go on, covered her mouth, and started to cry.

"I really don't understand. Why have you turned into this, Sis"

She hadn't finished when she suddenly cried out, "Ah."

Her whole body pitched backward.

Miles's face changed in an instant.

He lunged over, grabbed my arm, and flung me hard to the side.

I had no chance to catch my balance.

My back slammed into the coffee table and I crashed to the floor.

The wound they'd just treated tore with a pain like it was being ripped apart.

I curled up from it.

A hot rush poured out at once.

But Miles didn't so much as look at me. He just wheeled around, roaring.

"Mabel! She's your own sister!"

"You're shoving even her now?"

With that, he scooped Nora up and turned and left.

I sat on the floor a long while.

Only then did I have the strength to take out my phone and send a message to a lawyer.

Hello, I'd like a consultation about divorce.

The next afternoon I set out for my follow-up at the hospital.

I called a driver I'd used before.

But ten-odd minutes in, the car suddenly turned into an underground parking garage.

He stopped it at the very back.

Unease shot through me at once.

"Open the doors."

The driver watched me in the rearview mirror, and then he smiled.

"What's the act for, sweetheart?"

Something in me went cold.

"What are you talking about?"

His smile turned even more disgusting.

"Nora told me everything."

"That after you had the kid, you and Captain James were done a long time ago."

"Said you've been going crazy lately. That male therapist at your house must've been taking good care of you, right?"

My stomach heaved. I grabbed for the door at once.

But he'd locked it.

"We're all adults here, sweetheart. Drop the act."

"Nora said you like a man to make the first move."

A roar went off in my head.

"Let me out!"

I threw myself toward the other side.

What came after.

For a long time I couldn't make myself remember it.

I only remember fighting the whole time, screaming the whole time.

The wound that had never fully healed tore open again.

The blood kept coming.

The driver finally panicked.

He swore.

Then he dumped me in the garage and drove off.

I lay on the cold ground.

Trembling, I reached for the phone that had fallen beside me.

The first call I made.

Was still to Miles James.

Even though I'd already asked about divorce.

Even though I'd given up on him completely.

But he was a detective.

He'd worked so many cases like this.

He would know what to do now.

The phone rang a long time before it finally connected.

Tears spilled out of me in an instant.

"Miles James, the driver assaulted me"

"I'm in an underground parking garage, come save me"

The other end went quiet.

The next second, what I heard was Nora crying.

"Miles, don't worry about me. Go find my sister"

My whole body went rigid.

"Why is Nora with you?"

Miles's voice sounded tired.

"Someone followed her this afternoon. She just finished giving her statement at the station."

I stared at my blood-soaked legs.

"Miles James, come get me."

"I've lost a lot of blood. I can't stand up."

He gave a cold laugh.

"Mabel, nothing's off-limits for you now, is it."

I froze.

"What?"

Miles didn't answer.

He sent over a few screenshots.

Don't rush off after you drop me at the hospital today.

Find somewhere with nobody around.

I've really been going out of my mind lately.

The profile picture. The name.

All me.

The person on the other end of the chat was that driver.

I shook my head hard.

"It's not real! I never sent those!"

"Miles James! This is fake!"

He was silent for a moment.

"I'm with Nora right now dealing with her stalking case. She's under a real threat."

My breath stopped.

"So don't waste police resources just because you're jealous."

I closed my eyes.

"Understood."

I hung up.

I called the police myself. I called the ambulance myself.

When they lifted me onto the stretcher.

I never made a second call to Miles James.

The results came back, and the doctor's face was grim.

The postpartum wound that had torn open again and again.

This time it had taken serious violence, ripping open across a wide area once more.

There was clear bleeding, and a real risk of infection.

The doctor looked at me and shook her head.

After this, some of the damage to your function may become irreversible.

I stared at her blankly.

What does that mean?

She paused.

Possible long-term incontinence. Chronic pelvic floor pain.

Intimacy may hurt from now on, too.

You may not be able to conceive again. And even if you did, the risks of childbirth would rise sharply.

I closed my eyes. I didn't cry.

Because there were no tears left.

The surgical consent form, I signed myself.

The evidence collection, I cooperated with myself.

The police statement, I gave myself.

A few hours later.

The door to the room finally opened.

Miles came.

Nora trailed behind him.

The moment she saw me, she started crying.

Sis... how did it come to this?

She rushed over and reached for my hand.

I jerked it away.

Don't touch me.

Miles frowned.

She's been worried about you all afternoon.

Can you not snap at everyone you see?

He set a stack of printed chat logs down by the bed.

The driver filed a report too.

He says the two of you were in contact before this.

He's got obvious scratch marks on him.

I looked straight at him.

So?

Miles said nothing.

Regretting it afterward, and being forced from the start.

In a case, those are two different things.

I laughed harder.

The wound hurt so much my body was shaking.

But I kept laughing.

Miles, back when you worked cases, didn't you always say that even if a woman walks into a hotel with a man herself, if she says no partway through, that still counts as a refusal?

His body went visibly stiff.

I went on::

So how come, when it's me, a few chat screenshots are enough to prove I had it coming?

Nora rushed over at once.

Miles! Sis is already suffering enough.

Even if Sis really did act on impulse and regret it later, we can't blame her for that anymore.

I glared at Nora, and something occurred to me.

I turned to Miles.

Bring Poppy here.

From now on, don't let Nora touch her.

The room went silent in an instant.

Tears burst from Nora's eyes.

Sis... now you even suspect me?

Miles lost his temper completely.

Mabel! Nora's spent these last months helping you with the baby.

Mixing formula in the middle of the night, changing diapers, worrying more than you do, and you're the mother!

Now you get yourself into something like this and take it out on her?

With that, he took Nora by the hand and headed for the door.

We booked Poppy's hundred-day photo shoot for today. Since you're going to be like this, Mabel, the three of us will go.

That afternoon, Nora's post came up in my feed.

In the photo, Poppy wore the little dress I'd picked out ahead of time.

Miles held her, Nora standing beside them.

Wearing the matching family dress I'd bought for the hundred-day shoot.

All three of them in the same color.

Her caption read::

Here to mark Poppy's first hundred days with her.

Below it, a relative had commented.

A family of three, what a good-looking couple and child.

I stared at the photo for a long time without moving.

Then I turned off the phone.

But the door to the room was pushed open.

Ms. Henson, it's bad, your baby's been taken into the PICU!

What!

The color drained from my face.

I fought my way up to stand.

The wound that had only just scabbed over tore open again, blood soaking red through my hospital pants.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I ran out of the room, moving as fast as my body would let me toward pediatrics.

Miles stood at the door, white as a sheet.

The doctor saw me and sighed.

Ms. Henson, Poppy had an allergic reaction that blocked her airway. She was clearly oxygen-deprived. She's in the PICU now, and we're working to stabilize her.

Whether she'll be left with neurological effects, we can't say yet.

I looked at Nora.

Did you feed her something again?

Nora crumpled straight to the floor.

It's all my fault...

Hit me, scream at me...

Miles moved on instinct to shield her.

Mabel, calm down. Nora didn't know it would be this serious either.

Miles's phone rang.

Captain James, there's a new development in the driver's assault case.

Tech recovered some of the deleted messages on his phone.

One of the contacts...

It's Nora.