Chapter 1

At the welcome party for my three-month-old son, someone teased Adrian Blackwood with a laugh. "Ross? That sounds an awful lot like Rosalind. Who picked it?"

My husband glanced up from the seat beside me. "Rosalind and I picked it out years ago. Ross for a boy, Rose for a girl. I promised her I'd use it."

The whole table went quiet.

Everyone knew Rosalind Vaughn was his first love.

And I, the baby's own mother, had only just learned that my son's name was a tribute to their old romance.

I was about to speak when Rosalind Vaughn walked in, her eyes red. "Adrian, when I was pregnant, I went to Evelyn Sutton for a checkup. She told me I just had irregular periods. If she hadn't deliberately misdiagnosed me, our baby would be calling you Daddy by now."

I took out my phone. "The hospital still has the test records. We can find out exactly what happened right now."

But Adrian pressed his hand over mine and moved to shield her.

"She's already lost her baby. Do you have to reopen that wound in front of everyone?"

"Today is my son's welcome party. She's slandering me, and you want me to just take it?"

He frowned. "You and the baby have everything. What's the big deal about letting this go?"

I looked at him, and suddenly I didn't want to argue anymore.

The day I gave birth, I had let it go. He had taken her out on a boat to see dolphins.

When my son was hospitalized, I had let it go too. His surgery went ahead, but I was left to cover the out-of-pocket medical bills and follow-up costs. He sent her three hundred thousand dollars for jewelry, but told me I should have requested the twenty thousand dollars for those bills in advance.

Now even my son's name had to be hers.

I picked up the baby and called the department head.

"That medical research position you mentioned in another city? I've thought it over. I'll take it, and I'm bringing my son."

...

When I hung up, Adrian laughed coldly. "You haven't set foot in a hospital in four years. Who's going to want you?"

"I left my job. I didn't forget my training."

Throughout those years, I had kept studying and preparing to return to work.

He had simply never asked.

Rosalind tugged at his sleeve. "Adrian, stop. Evelyn just had a baby. She's emotional. Go easy on her."

Adrian patted her hand and turned to me. "We'll talk about the job at home. There are a lot of people here today. Don't make a scene."

Sensing the tension, Adrian's sister hurriedly signaled a server to bring over the next present.

"There's one more gift for the baby. His grandmother made it for him before she passed away."

A light blue box was set in front of me.

When my mother found out I was pregnant, her health was already very poor.

She put on her reading glasses and sewed a little quilt, stitch by stitch, saying she wanted him to have something made by her, even if she never got to hold him.

She passed away before the baby was even born.

I reached out and lifted the lid. A sour stench rose from the box.

A large patch of vomit stained the little quilt.

I froze.

Rosalind glanced at it and covered her mouth. "Oh, that was it... I wasn't feeling well earlier, so I grabbed a piece of cloth to wipe up. I had no idea it was something your mother had left."

The lid clearly had a card on it that said From Grandma.

I turned the box toward her. "Can't you read?"

"I felt sick at the time. How was I supposed to pay attention to stuff like that?"

As she spoke, she shrank back behind Adrian.

I lifted out the quilt.

In one corner, she had embroidered two small words in uneven stitches: Stay safe.

My mother's hands had been shaking badly by then. It took her a long time to embroider it.

I ran my fingers over the stitches, my voice tight. "This is the only thing my mom left for the baby."

Adrian glanced at it. "If it's dirty, wash it. If it doesn't come clean, buy another one. It's not like she did it on purpose."

"Would you say that if she'd ruined the jewelry you bought her for three hundred thousand dollars?"

His face darkened. "You really want to fight with the living over something a dead woman left behind?"

The private room went silent for a moment. Even Rosalind stopped crying.

I looked at Adrian and slowly folded the quilt.

When my mother was in the hospital, he had sat by her bed too, calling her Mom and promising to look after me.

Now that she was gone, the quilt she left wasn't even worth a second look from him.

I handed the box to the nanny and took the baby back. "We're leaving."

Adrian stepped in my way. "The party isn't over. Where are you going?"

"The baby needs to eat."

"Let the nanny take him. You stay."

I looked at him. "Stay here and keep apologizing to Rosalind Vaughn?"

That silenced him. His expression grew darker.

I walked around him and out of the room.

As soon as I got into the car, a message arrived from the department head.

The research center was a few hours away, in another city in the same state. It offered a short-term relocation apartment and could help me find a pediatric specialist for the baby's follow-up care.

[You've been away from clinical work for a few years. Start with medical records and follow-up work you're familiar with, and ease back in.]

[We can arrange a car for the day after tomorrow if that works for you.]

I replied: Okay.

Then I contacted a lawyer.

"I want a divorce. And I want custody of my son."