Chapter 2 - The Word That Changed Everything
The word oncology stayed in my head long after the nurse stopped speaking.
For a few seconds, I forgot where I was.
I forgot about Captain Reese upstairs.
I forgot about the uniform beneath my coat.
I forgot how to breathe.
All I could see was Sophie.
She slowly pushed herself up from the wall.
Her knees trembled.
I reached for her automatically.
She pulled away.
“I can walk.”
“I know.”
“Then don't.”
Her voice wasn't cruel.
That made it worse.
The nurse gave me a careful look.
“Are you family?”
Before I could answer, Sophie said, “He's my ex-husband.”
The word ex-husband landed like a door closing.
The nurse nodded professionally.
“Mrs. Parker, Dr. Brooks is waiting.”
Sophie took two steps.
Then the hallway tilted beneath her.
Her hand caught the IV pole.
I grabbed her elbow.
This time, she didn't pull away.
“Sophie.”
“I'm fine.”
“No, you're not.”
She looked up at me.
There was exhaustion in her eyes.
But beneath it was something worse.
Fear.
I had seen terrified soldiers hide fear better than that.
“Go back to work, Ethan.”
“No.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“You don't get to give orders here.”
“I'm not giving one.”
“It sounds like one.”
“Then call it begging.”
That stopped her.
I lowered my voice.
“Please.”
For a moment, Sophie looked like the woman I had married.
Not the woman I had divorced.
Not the stranger in the hospital gown.
Just Sophie.
The woman who used to steal the blankets and leave half-finished glasses of water on every surface in the house.
Her expression softened.
Then it closed again.
“You can come in.”
The consultation room was too small.
There were two chairs.
Sophie took one.
I sat beside her.
Dr. Lena Brooks entered carrying a tablet.
She was in her forties, calm-eyed, with the careful voice of someone accustomed to delivering sentences that changed lives.
She glanced at me.
“Sophie?”
“He can stay.”
Dr. Brooks sat.
She looked at Sophie first.
“The latest bloodwork came back.”
Sophie gripped the chair.
I noticed.
“Your hCG level is still rising.”
I frowned.
I knew that hormone.
Every husband who had stared at pregnancy tests knew it.
I looked at Sophie.
Her eyes stayed on the doctor.
Dr. Brooks continued.
“The imaging also shows two small lesions in your right lung.”
My stomach turned cold.
“What does that mean?”
Sophie closed her eyes.
Dr. Brooks looked at me.
“It means we need to begin treatment immediately.”
“For what?”
Silence.
Then Sophie whispered the words herself.
“Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia.”
I stared at her.
“I don't understand.”
Dr. Brooks leaned forward.
“It is a rare disease involving abnormal pregnancy-related cells.”
Pregnancy.
I turned toward Sophie.
She looked away.
My pulse began hammering.
“Pregnancy-related?”
Neither woman answered fast enough.
I stood.
“Sophie.”
“Sit down.”
“Were you pregnant?”
Her face broke.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
And I knew.
I sat again because my legs suddenly couldn't hold me.
“How long?”
She rubbed both hands over her face.
“Ethan.”
“How long did you know?”
“I found out six weeks before the divorce became final.”
Six weeks.
I stopped breathing.
Our hearing had been only a week before the papers were signed.
She had been pregnant while we were divorcing.
She had been pregnant while I ignored her calls.
She had been pregnant while I shook her hand in an attorney's office and watched her leave our house with one suitcase.
I looked at her stomach even though I knew there was nothing to see.
“Where is the baby?”
Sophie looked at Dr. Brooks.
Then back at me.
Her eyes filled.
May you like
“There wasn't going to be a baby.”
And suddenly, I understood why she had said she had run out of time.
