Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO LEFT
Theo had a viral infection.
Fluids.
Rest.
A follow-up if his breathing changed.
Vance sat beside the examination bed while Maddie held a cup to their son’s mouth.
His phone kept vibrating.
He silenced it.
“You should go,” Maddie said.
“No.”
“Your company.”
“Has adults in it.”
She looked at him sharply.
He deserved that look.
One decent evening didn’t erase anything.
When Theo finally slept, Maddie stepped into the hallway.
Vance followed.
“I need to tell you something before you hear it elsewhere.”
She crossed her arms.
“Then tell me.”
“My mother and Lila kept the letters from me. But nobody made me send that text.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t tricked into leaving you.”
Her face barely moved.
“I knew.”
He swallowed.
“I blamed you for feeling things I didn’t want to face. Every failed treatment scared me. Every time you cried, I heard something I couldn’t fix.”
“So you punished me for it.”
“Yes.”
The word hurt him.
It should.
Maddie looked through the glass at Theo.
“I would have survived you saying you couldn’t do another treatment.”
“I know.”
“I would have survived a divorce.”
Her voice broke, just once.
“You left while I was waking up and asking where you were.”
Vance couldn’t answer.
There was no sentence that belonged after that.
She wiped her cheek angrily.
“Don’t tell me your mother ruined our marriage. She helped you hide from what you’d already done.”
“I won’t.”
A nurse approached.
Theo was ready to leave.
Vance carried the diaper bag downstairs.
Maddie carried their son.
At Elise’s building, Theo stirred.
“Red blocks?” he mumbled.
Vance bent closer.
“Next time.”
“Tomorrow?”
He glanced at Maddie.
She nodded once.
“Tomorrow.”
Back at his apartment, an email waited from a former clinic coordinator named Hannah Shaw.
She had seen his public statement.
I tried to tell you something three years ago. Your office blocked my appointment.
An attachment followed.
A scanned request bearing Maddie’s patient number.
Vance read the subject line.
May you like
TRANSFER OF REMAINING STORED EMBRYOS.
The authorization carried another version of Maddie’s signature.
