Chapter 4

The surgery was set for three days out.

This was what Rosalie had decided after thinking it through carefully.

She was thirty this year, her salary was modest, she rented her apartment, and she had no savings.

If she gave birth to these three children, there was no way she could raise them.

More than that, she didn't want to use the babies to trap Drew.

If the man had already decided to leave, then dragging him back with children would only get her his charity and his resentment, not his love.

She, Rosalie, might not have much going for her, but she still had that much pride.

The moment Tilda heard the news, she came flying over to Rosalie's place and slammed her hand down on the table hard enough to rattle it.

"Rosalie, have you lost your mind? Those are triplets! Do you have any idea how many people beg for this and never get it?"

"If that bastard Drew doesn't want them, I do! I'll be their godmother, I'll raise them! We don't have to take that kind of humiliation!"

Rosalie sat on the couch, a cup of hot water cradled in her hands, her face as pale as paper.

"Tilda, calm down. This is a lifelong thing, not like keeping a cat or a dog."

"Calm down my ass!"

Tilda paced circles around the room. "I just don't believe Drew is really that heartless! The way he used to look at you, his eyes practically melted. How could that change overnight? Rosalie, have you thought about it? Maybe there's some kind of misunderstanding."

"What misunderstanding could there be?"

Rosalie gave a bitter smile. "That I've got it wrong and he doesn't have someone else? Or that I've got it wrong and he's got some terminal illness and doesn't want to drag me down with him?"

"You've watched too many soaps. The reality is, he doesn't love me anymore. He got bored. He got sick of me."

"The day we signed the divorce papers, he didn't even glance at me. He took the certificate and walked out, faster than anyone."

Tilda opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't find the words.

It was true. The way Drew had behaved these past six months really had been about as bad as it got.

Working late every day, never coming home at night, coming back with the faint smell of some unfamiliar perfume on him, giving Rosalie the cold shoulder.

With all those signs, what explanation was there besides a change of heart?

"Is the surgery fee enough?" Tilda asked, her eyes red.

"It's enough. I haven't touched the money from the divorce settlement."

"I'll go with you."

Tilda pulled Rosalie into a hug, her voice choking. "Don't be scared. Whatever happens, you've still got me."

Rosalie leaned into her best friend's arms and finally couldn't hold it in, sobbing out loud.

She wasn't crying for the children she was about to lose. She was crying for everything about Drew that had already died completely, every dream of him.

On the day of the surgery, the sky hung gray and heavy, like it might snow.

Rosalie lay on the moving hospital bed, watching the ceiling lights slide backward one by one.

It was very quiet around her, only the sound of the wheels rolling over the floor.

Silas stood at the door of the operating room in his white coat, a mask covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of worried eyes.

"Rosalie, I'll ask you one last time. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Once the anesthesia goes in, there's no taking it back."

Rosalie drew in a deep breath, her hand drifting to her belly without meaning to.

Three little lives were growing in there, carrying her blood and Drew's.

If they could be born, who would they look like?

The eldest sharp like his father? The second one scatterbrained like his mother? The third a little troublemaker?

Too bad. All of it could only ever be her imagining.

"Do it."

Rosalie closed her eyes, and two lines of tears slid from the corners and disappeared into her hair.

"Thank you for this, Silas."

Silas looked at her for a long moment, said nothing, then turned and went into the prep room.

But the hand in his pocket stayed clenched hard around his phone, the screen showing a text that had just gone through.

Only two words: 【It's happening.】