Chapter 4

I… died?

I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to reach down and cradle my baby, but my hands passed right through her tiny body.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t feel her warmth.

All I could do was watch as my hands kept slipping through her over and over again.

The death of a mother during childbirth is a big deal for any hospital.

As they wheeled my body out of the operating room, my attending physician ran into another doctor from the neighboring surgery room.

Seeing the white sheet covering my body, Dr. Lee sighed in sympathy. “That’s strange, wasn’t Dr. Chase’s wife just next door, undergoing a routine C-section? We could’ve handled that easily. Why didn’t he come to assist you?”

“He’s the authority in these kinds of cases! Could it be that, because his wife was giving birth, he didn’t want to step in and help save lives?”

Before Dr. Lee could finish, the intern interrupted, frustrated. “Dr. Lee, the woman under this sheet is Dr. Chase’s wife, Emily Perkins.”

Dr. Lee chuckled. “I’ve worked with Nathan for so long. You think I don’t know who his wife is? His wife is Tina Lewis. How could this be Emily?”

Still grappling with the loss of the patient, the intern lost her patience, her tone exasperated. “Why would we lie to you? This is Dr. Chase’s wife. It’s on her medical records.”

Dr. Lee froze, then slapped his forehead in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? Dr. Chase’s wife… dead?”

The only response was the cold, silent body beneath the white sheet.

…

After I died, Nathan Chase couldn’t be reached by phone. But his mother, Gloria, showed up at the hospital.

"The mother didn’t make it… I’m so sorry for your loss,” the nurse informed her quietly.

“But she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Five pounds, three ounces…”

Before the nurse could finish, Gloria frowned and walked off to call Nathan.

“Your wife gave birth. It’s a useless girl,” she snapped into the phone.

“That’s fine. I told you she’d be alright.”

“Oh, by the way, Mom, I gave her hospital bag to Tina. I also sent the maternity nurse Emily hired to help Tina. You know, Tina’s all alone and needs someone by her side.”

“Fine, fine. I got it,” Gloria huffed.

“Mom, can you stay at the hospital and look after her for me?”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Nathan pressed on, “Mom, I’ll pay you. A thousand dollars a week.”

Hearing that, Gloria finally relented. “Your wife doesn’t need anyone looking after her. She’s fine. An athlete’s body can’t be that fragile.”

“She heard that you sent her nurse away. Now she’s saying she wants to go abroad to recover after childbirth, something about it being quicker and better. Someone’s already arranged to pick her up.”

I couldn’t understand why Gloria would say that.

Nathan didn’t give it much thought either. “Whatever. Let her go wherever she wants.”

Listening to his dismissive tone, I began to wonder: if he knew I’d died on the operating table, how would he react?

Would he feel even a twinge of sadness?

From the other end of the line, I heard Tina’s soft voice: “Nathan, do you think Emily’s mad at me?”

“I had you come stay with me, and Betty’s here helping look after my son. You know, I’m all alone right now…”

“I didn’t mean to bother you. I don’t want to cause any trouble for Emily…”

“Who cares about her? Your priority is to recover. Don’t worry about anything else. And anyway, she’s an athlete. She’ll be fine.”