He Saved Her Seat Not Our Baby Chapter 04
“If we can’t reach family, have the patient sign for herself.”
The attending doctor handed me the surgical consent form.
“Bleeding is still increasing. We’ll do everything we can to keep you safe, but I need to inform you of worst-case scenarios.”
I was in too much pain to grip the pen.
The nurse braced my wrist. “Is there any other relative we can call?”
My parents died years ago. After the wedding, I closed my studio.
Over these years, the people I could reach had grown fewer and fewer.
I scrolled through my entire contacts list and finally dialed Noah Reed.
He was Cloud Cabin’s earliest investor—and the man Ethan had pushed out of the project three years ago.
The phone barely rang once before he picked up.
“Claire?”
“Noah, could you come to the hospital?”
He didn’t ask why.
“Send me the address. Twenty minutes.”
Noah arrived to find me already in the observation room.
He spoke from the other side of the curtain. “Where’s Ethan Ward?”
“With Lily. At her prenatal appointment.”
“You’re pregnant too, and he’s leaving you here alone?”
The doctor pulled back the curtain.
“Please don’t upset the patient right now. She needs a specific medication. We’re out of stock here. The nearest branch still has two doses left—someone needs to go get them immediately.”
Noah took the slip and left.
I lay on the bed, listening to the nurse call Ethan again.
“Mr. Ward, your wife’s condition is critical. Please come to the hospital immediately.”
“I’m at the hospital.”
The nurse froze.
“Which department are you in?”
“OB-GYN, third floor.”
“Mrs. Ward is in the fifth-floor emergency observation unit.”
Silence on the other end.
Then Lily’s tearful voice came through.
“Ethan, go. I’ll wait for my exam alone. I know the doctor said I almost fell and it might affect the baby, but Claire is more important.”
Ethan said immediately: “Don’t move.”
Then he told the nurse: “Follow standard protocol. Send me whatever forms need signing. I can do it remotely.”
“Mr. Ward, some situations require you to be here in person.”
“I’ll be there before ten.”
“She might not last until ten.”
Ethan’s voice turned cold. “Is this how your hospital manufactures panic? She was well enough to argue with me about the project this morning. Now she’s suddenly critical? Convenient timing.”
The nurse hung up in anger.
At 8:40, the bleeding surged.
The doctor examined me, and his face changed.
“Fetal heart rate is dropping. Surgery now.”
As they wheeled me toward the operating room, Noah still wasn’t back.
My phone screen lit up. A schedule from Ethan.
“Nine o’clock, Lily’s exam. Nine thirty, drop her home. Ten o’clock, your room.”
“Stop rushing me. No one gets to disrupt the order because of you.”
I looked at that last line and pressed the screen dark.
Before anesthesia, the doctor asked: “Final confirmation—has a family member been informed of the pregnancy termination?”
I signed my name.
When the surgical light descended, I thought of the day I first found out I was pregnant.
Ethan had done something rare that day—postponed a meeting to go buy a little silver airplane pendant with me.
He said when the baby was born, we’d hang it above the crib.
That was why I had wavered, again and again, these past months. I thought he had at least wanted this child.
As the anesthetic pushed into my veins, I heard the nurse on the phone outside the door.
“Did you get the medication?”
“No. The branch said Mr. Ward’s assistant picked up both doses ten minutes ago. Logged under Lily Scott, for pregnancy preservation.”
The doctor flung the door open.
“Who authorized that?”
“Mr. Ward said Ms. Scott is the lead on a priority project and cannot be exposed to any risk.”
My fingers curled tight. So he hadn’t been unaware of those two doses.
He had simply chosen—between me and Lily—her. Again.
At ten o’clock sharp, familiar footsteps sounded outside the operating room.
Ethan asked: “Is Claire still making a scene?”
The nurse looked up.
“Mr. Ward, at 9:17, the baby your wife was carrying had no heartbeat.”