My Husband Asked For A Hall Pass On My Delivery Date Chapter 02
Alone
Maybe the anesthesia wasn’t enough. My mind stayed wide awake through the whole thing.
I didn’t dare pass out. I didn’t dare close my eyes.
I hadn’t seen my baby’s face yet. How could I sleep?
When the surgery was over, they wheeled me out.
The doctor told me then. The baby’s condition was critical. He’d been taken straight to the NICU the moment he was born.
The hallway stretched out long and empty.
No flowers. No warm food. Not even a single ‘You did great. Rest well.’
The nurse handed me my phone. There was pity in her eyes, the professional kind. “The number your husband left with the hospital. We’ve been trying it. It won’t go through.”
I took the phone. The screen was full of outgoing calls, all to the same name.
Ethan Hale.
I almost laughed.
His blackout plan was thorough. His wife and his newborn son were hanging between life and death, and he didn’t even make an exception.
The anesthesia wore off. Cold sweat soaked through the pillow within minutes.
The C-section incision felt like someone was dragging a dull blade back and forth across my stomach. Every breath pulled at something raw.
The nurse came in to change my bandages and reminded me to have a family member handle the payment. “The NICU requires a deposit upfront. Your baby’s condition isn’t stable. He might need to go on a ventilator. The costs will add up fast.”
I opened my banking app. Checked every account I had.
The total wasn’t enough for the deposit.
I called Ethan again.
“The number you have dialed is powered off.”
Again. Still off.
I started texting him. My fingers were shaking from the pain.
[The baby is in the NICU. The doctor says it’s dangerous.]
[Ethan, come back. Now. Please.]
Nothing from Ethan. Not a single notification.
But Sienna had posted on Instagram thirty minutes ago.
The photo showed two old phones, side by side on a wooden table in some cabin. A dim lamp glowing beside them. The whole thing styled to look like some artsy off-the-grid retreat.
The caption read: [He actually came. A promise from seventeen. I didn’t lose to anyone.]
I stared at the words ‘didn’t lose to anyone.’
The IV needle on the back of my hand had been yanked loose by some movement I didn’t notice. A thread of blood crept back up the tube.
So that’s what we were. Me. My son. We were the ‘anyone.’
I called his assistant. The woman on the other end sounded uncomfortable. “Mrs. Hale, Mr. Hale gave strict instructions. For these forty-eight hours, no one is to contact him.”
I said. “My baby needs a deposit for the NICU. Can you advance the money from the company account?”
Silence. A long one.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hale. Without Mr. Hale’s authorization, I can’t do that.”
In the end, it was the husband from the bed next to mine who couldn’t stand watching anymore. He offered to lend me the money so I could pay the deposit.
His wife, the woman who’d just given birth a few hours before, looked over and asked quietly, “Where’s your husband?”
I tugged at the corner of my mouth. The thing on my face was closer to a grimace than a smile.
“He’s on leave.”