Chapter 85 #3: Save My Child
TW: This is a very intense chapter, both emotionally and physically. Readers discretion is strongly advised.
~
Pain woke me before sound did.
It arrived deeply, curling through my abdomen with a certainty that left no room for denial. I inhaled slowly, counting in my head the way the midwife had taught me, the way I had practiced for weeks like this was an exam I could pass if I prepared well enough.
“David,” I said, my voice steady even as my body tightened. “It’s starting again.”
He was already awake. He had been half awake since we got there, perched on the edge of the chair like a man afraid to sit too comfortably in case fate mistook it for arrogance.
“I see it,” he said, moving instantly to my side. “I’m here.”
The contraction crested and faded. I let out the breath I had been holding and stared at the ceiling, counting the tiles, grounding myself in numbers because numbers felt safer than thoughts.
“That one was stronger,” I said.
He nodded, watching the monitor like it might argue with him. “I’ll call the nurse.”
“She was just here,” I said.
“She can come again.”
He pressed the button anyway.
This was supposed to be the easy part. That was what everyone said. Early labour was meant to be manageable, almost boring. Something you breathed through while cracking jokes and pretending you were not afraid.
For a while, it was.
Hours passed in a rhythm that made sense. Pain, release. Pain, release. The nurses checked in, smiled, reassured me that everything was progressing normally.
David talked to me constantly. About nothing. About everything.
“When this is over,” he said, wiping my forehead with a cool cloth, “I’m taking you away for a month. No phones. No meetings. Just you, me, and our son.”
“Our son,” I repeated, smiling weakly.
He smiled back. “Lucian is going to be so spoiled.”
“That’s your fault,” I said. “You already bought him a freaking island.”
He laughed softly. “He deserves it.”
Another contraction hit, much stronger this time. I gripped his hand, my nails digging into his skin.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Don’t be,” he said immediately, kissing my forehead. “Break my hand if you need to.”
I snorted despite myself. “You’ll need it to sign those checks.”
“I’ll learn to write with my left.”
The pain faded again, but something lingered this time. A tightness that did not fully let go.
“David,” I said slowly. “Something feels different.”
He looked at me, the smile gone now. “Different how?”
I searched my body for the right word. “I’m not sure... but something’s wrong.”
He pressed the call button again, more firmly this time. When the nurse came in, her smile was professional as she checked the monitor, then my vitals, then my expression.
“Everything looks fine,” she said. “Labour can change pace. That’s normal.”
I noticed she said it too quickly, and I think David did too.
“Can you check her again?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said, already moving. She finished and stepped back, nodding. “You’re doing great, Nora.”
She did not meet my eyes when she said it. After she left, the room felt smaller.
“I don’t like this,” I said.
David sat beside me, brushing my hair back. “You’re tired. That’s all.”
I wanted to believe him. I tried to.
The next contraction stole my breath entirely. It crashed through me with no warning, sharp and insistent, dragging a sound out of my throat I did not recognize as my own.
David was on his feet instantly. “Nurse. We need a nurse now!”
The room filled again. Another nurse. Then another. Someone adjusted the monitor, frowned, and adjusted it again.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Just checking something,” one of them said.
“What?” I pressed.
“Your baby’s heart rate dipped for a moment,” the doctor said as she stepped in. “It can happen.”
“But?” David asked.
“But we’re watching it closely.”
The word but hung in the air.
Time stopped behaving properly after that. Contractions blurred together. The pain became something else entirely, something that did not rise and fall but stayed, digging in relentlessly.
I lost track of how many hours passed. I stopped making jokes. I stopped asking questions. I started watching faces. And that was how I knew before anyone told me.
The doctor glanced at the monitor, then at the nurse. The nurse gave a barely perceptible shake of her head.
The doctor stepped back and turned to David. “Mr. Reid, may I speak with you outside for a moment?”
My heart dropped into my stomach.
“No,” I said immediately. “You can speak here.”
She hesitated. David hesitated too.
“I need to speak with him privately, Mrs. Reid,” she said gently.
“No,” I repeated, louder now. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of me. It’s my baby too.”
David squeezed my hand. “Nora, I’ll be right outside.”
I shook my head, panic rising fast as tears began to sting my eyes. “Don’t leave me."
He leaned down, pressing his forehead to mine. “I’m not leaving, darling. I’m just gonna step outside for a bit.”
The door closed behind them and the room went silent except for the monitor. I stared at the glass window, my vision narrowing, my breath coming too fast.
I watched the doctor speak. I could not hear her, but I did not need to. Her face was serious as she spoke. David’s shoulders stiffened, then he looked up.
Our eyes met through the glass.
And that was when I knew.
He came back into the room slowly, like his body weighed more than it did before.
“Save my child,” I blurted, the words tearing out of me before he could speak.
He froze.
“Nora,” he said, his voice already broken. “Listen...”
“No,” I said, gripping the sheets. “Save my child.”
He swallowed hard. His eyes were red. “I’m going to do everything in my power–”
“Is he in danger?” I cut in.
He did not answer directly. “I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
“That wasn’t the fucking question,” I snapped, anger flaring through the fear. “Is my baby in danger?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “Yes.”
The word hit me harder than the pain ever could.
“What’s wrong with him?” I demanded. “Tell me.”
“There are a few complications, Mrs Reid” the doctor said from behind him. “But we’re monitoring closely.”
“Complications like what?” I asked.
She glanced at David.
“No!” My voice was loud but I didn’t care. “No more talking over my head. Say it to me.”
She exhaled. “He’s in distress. His heart rate is unstable.”
My chest tightened. “Then get him out.”
“It’s not that simple, ma'am.” she replied.
“Why not?!” I shouted. “You’re doctors. Fucking fix it!”
David pulled out his phone, his hands shaking now. “I’m calling the best specialists... Neonatal surgeons... Cardiologists... Whoever the fuck we need.”
He started making calls, pacing the room, his voice loud, commanding, the voice he used back when he had a mafia empire to run.
“I don’t care where they are,” he said into the phone. “Fly them in. Now. I’ll pay five times the rate.”
I watched him, a strange calm settling over me.
“David,” I said quietly.
He turned to me instantly. “I’m here, darling.”
“Save the baby.”
He stopped.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re wasting time. I can already see it,” I said. “They don’t know if he’ll make it. It's time to stop pretending like there’s anything more we can do, and make a decision.”
His face crumpled. “Nora.”
“Save him,” I said. “You promised to give me anything I asked. Save my child, David.”
He shook his head. “I am not letting you die.”
“You don’t get to decide that alone,” I said.
“I do,” he said hoarsely. “I’m your husband.”
“And he’s our son,” I shot back. “I’ve had my chance at life. He deserves his.”
The doctor cleared her throat. “I'm really sorry to interrupt, Mr. Reid, but we need to move quickly.”
“Then move,” I snapped at her. “We've made our decision.”
David stepped back from the bed, like he needed distance to breathe.
“There is no world,” he said, his voice shaking, “in which I choose to lose you.”
My heart stuttered.
“What?” I whispered.
He met my gaze fully now. “If it comes down to it, Nora, I choose you.”
The words felt unreal. Impossible.
“You can’t,” I said. “You can’t say that.”
“I just did,” he replied.
I reached for him, panic flooding my system. “David, don’t you dare!”
He stepped toward the door.
“David!” I screamed at his retreating back. “Save Lucian! David, save my child!”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, pain etched into every line of his face. Then he turned and walked away.
“No,” I screamed. “No. No. No. Please no.” I thrashed against the bed, the monitors screaming now in protest, hands rushing to hold me down.
“Save him,” I sobbed. “Please. Please, save him.”
“Nora,” a nurse said urgently. “You need to calm down.”
“Get your filthy hands off me!” I shouted.
Another contraction ripped through me, blinding and unbearable.
“David,” I screamed, my voice breaking apart. “Please I beg you... save our boy.”
But he was gone.
A nurse pressed something into my arm. I felt the sudden sharp sting.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I demanded.
“This will help you rest, ma'am,” she said.
“I don’t want to rest,” I cried. “I want my baby.”
The room tilted. The lights blurred.
I fought it, clawing at consciousness, clawing at the last thing that mattered to me.
“Please don’t take my baby,” I whispered, even as my tongue went numb.
The ceiling dissolved into darkness.
And then there was nothing at all.