Chapter 2

Ida Simmons was the best woman I had ever met in this world.

She was beautiful, gentle, clever, kind.

One look, and I was completely lost.

After we married, no matter how late I worked, she always kept a lamp on and a table of food ready, waiting for me.

When I ran a fever, she stayed up the whole night, wiping me down with a towel over and over to bring the temperature down.

When my business failed and left me drowning in debt, she sold off her jewelry without a word, pressed all the money into my hands, and said with a smile:

"It's fine. I'll carry it with you."

On holidays she'd have gifts ready for my parents ahead of time, more attentive to them than I was, and I was their own son.

The scenes ran through my mind one after another, and my chest went tighter.

Quinton was about to try again when my phone suddenly rang.

It was my mom.

The moment I picked up, her frantic voice came through:

"Mick, where are you right now?"

"Get to the maternity hospital, quick. Ida just had a C-section. It's a boy!"

I gave a flat "Oh," and said, unhurried:

"I'm in the middle of a game. Can't get away."

Then my dad's furious shout burst out beside her:

"A game matters more than your wife and your kid?"

"If your mother and I hadn't gotten here in time to pay her surgery bill, she'd be dead!"

"You get over here right now!"

I sighed and said, helpless:

"Once she's discharged and back home, I'll see her and the baby anyway."

"No need to make a special trip."

That set my dad off even worse:

"You worthless piece of garbage!"

"Ida nearly died giving you a son, and you won't even come to the hospital?"

"I'm telling you, if you don't show your face today, I'll cut you off as my son!"

With that, he slammed the phone down.

The second Quinton and Darren heard it, they hauled me to my feet:

"Come on, come on, quit playing, get to the hospital. We're coming with you."

Before I could refuse, the two of them flanked me and shoved me straight into the car.

Quinton drove fast the whole way, and we reached the maternity hospital in no time.

The moment I walked into Ida's room, I saw my parents and my in-laws gathered around the bed.

Beside it stood a bassinet, and inside it lay a tiny baby.

The instant I saw the child, I froze for a moment.

His face looked almost exactly like mine when I was little.

While I was still staring blankly at the baby, my mother-in-law came up to me, her eyes red:

"Mick, how has this family ever wronged you, that you'd torment Ida like this?"

I looked at her, her whole face full of pain.

Then I looked at Ida on the bed, pale and weak.

And I asked, not understanding:

"Mom, how exactly did I torment Ida?"

My mother-in-law stared at me like she couldn't believe her ears:

"Ida had an abnormal fetal position and her water broke, she needed surgery right away, and you clearly had the money but wouldn't pay the bill. You even walked out and left her there alone. And you still have the nerve to ask how you tormented her?"

"Mick, do you have any conscience at all?"

I found the whole thing baffling:

"Mom, Ida was the one who couldn't cover her half of the surgery bill. That's why I left."

"How is that my fault?"

At that, my father-in-law rushed over, grabbed me by the collar, and roared, beside himself:

"You've got the nerve to bring up splitting the bill?"

"Mick, the child my daughter was carrying is your own flesh and blood!"

"You're Ida's husband, the baby's father, and this is how you take responsibility for them?"

I felt a bit helpless:

"Dad, you can't put it that way."

"Ida and I agreed a long time ago that household costs get split down the middle. She couldn't cover her own share of the surgery bill. I can't be expected to pay the whole thing on my own, can I?"

I thought I'd explained it clearly enough, but my father-in-law only got angrier:

"You split the bill with your pregnant wife?"

"Mick, back when you were chasing Ida every way you could think of, why didn't you talk about splitting anything?"

"When your business failed and left you buried in debt, and Ida sold off all her jewelry to scrape the money together for you, why didn't you talk about splitting anything then?"

"Now that Ida can't work easily through her pregnancy and money's needed everywhere, suddenly you split with her. Are you even human?"