The Wedding He Stole From Me

“I didn't push her.”

Godfrey cut me off.

“You didn't push her. So what you're saying is she used her own baby just to frame you?”

“Gladys, you're still lying to my face!”

All at once, I didn't want to explain anymore.

It didn't matter what I said. He would never believe me.

I felt my lips twist into something that might have been a smile, bitter and mocking. Then I stopped talking.

Godfrey turned his head.

“Draw her blood. However much April needs, take it.”

The doctor hesitated, but they still wheeled me into the operating room.

One vial.

Two.

Three.

I heard the doctor's voice.

“Mr. Delgado, we can't take any more. If we keep going, her life will be at risk.”

Godfrey's voice carried not a trace of feeling.

“As long as it saves April and the baby, I'll bear whatever consequences there are. Keep drawing.”

I listened to his voice and tried to find some trace of the Godfrey who had once loved me.

When I was nineteen and away at college, I'd gone to donate blood without telling him.

On the walk back to my dorm I got so dizzy I nearly collapsed on the side of the road.

He found out somehow. Drove three hours to campus. When he burst into the dorm room, his face was whiter than mine.

He pushed me onto the bed, wrapped me up in the comforter like a cocoon.

His voice was furious and frantic all at once.

“Gladys, listen to me. No more donating blood. No more donating anything. You don't get to lose a single drop, you hear me?”

I told him donating blood was a good thing to do.

He looked at me.

“I don't need you to do good things. I just need you safe and healthy.”

“Mr. Delgado, we really can't take any more. The patient is already……” The doctor's voice broke through again.

My vision was going dark. A low buzzing filled my ears.

But I could still hear Godfrey.

“I said keep going. She hurt April. Even if it kills her, it's what she owes!”

……

My body was going cold, little by little. Somewhere close, a monitor beeped.

“She's pregnant! The patient is pregnant! Stop, stop now!”

I turned my head and looked down.

Blood. Everywhere beneath me, blood.

My lips tugged faintly at the corners.

So I was pregnant too.

Panicked voices rushed in from all sides.

Godfrey crouched beside me, the rims of his eyes red.

“You were pregnant. Why didn't you tell me?” His voice was so hoarse it barely carried.

I looked at him and slowly, slowly smiled.

I pressed my lips to his ear and used every last ounce of strength I had for one final sentence.

“Godfrey, why don't I give our baby to April too.”