Skylar's POV
It was a Saturday morning, I walked into the hospital
"Are you Miss Skylar?" The man in the black suit said and handed me a flat office file.
That was a list of the sections I booked for childbirth and how much it cost.
I flipped through the pages, studied it carefully.
It was an outrageous sum. The cash I had in my wallet couldn't even pay for even a part of my Bill.
"I'm doomed,"
Lucy had called me earlier to ask how I was fairing. I had better not disclose anything to her. "
She's a bitch." She knew the mess she had made.
"Hi ma'am" The pretty receptionist waved to me.
It was already my turn on the counter to make payment.
I leaned it
"Miss Lisa, can I get a discount on my bills?" I whispered across the counter with a low voice to her. I just hoped she wouldn't abuse me.
"Hey, can you step aside if you can't afford to pay your bills? You're taking so long," the man at the back shouted.
"Your payment has been declined again" she returned the card
"please can you try making the payment again for the very last time."
"The payment has still been declined" Lucy handed back the card to me.
I was forced out of the line by the security officer.
Tears streamed down my eyes.
I walked toward the restroom
"Please help me..." I screamed
I was bleeding profusely
"Help me, help me"
my vision became blurry and I fell to the ground.
As I laid on the cold floor, my screams grew weaker, and my body felt like it was shutting down. Everything went dark.
Hospital Room
As I slowly regained consciousness,groggily opened my eyes, I found myself in a hospital room, surrounded by the sterile smell and beeping machines. A gentle voice spoke to me.
"Welcome back. You've lost a significant amount of blood, but you're going to be okay."
I tried to remember what happened, and fragments of memories flooded back. I had been bleeding profusely and screaming for help.
The doctor continued, "You've received a blood transfusion, and we're monitoring your condition closely. You'll need to stay with us for a few days to recover."
As the doctor's words reassured me, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. But then, a new concern emerged
"Who paid for my treatment?"
The doctor smiled kindly. "Don't worry about that right now. Just focus on getting better."
Who could have paid my bills? And why?
I jolted upright in bed, my heart racing as memories flooded back. I was pregnant.
"My baby!" I screamed, panic setting in. "Where's my baby?"
A nurse rushed to my side, trying to calm me down. "Your baby is fine. She's being taken care of by the nursery staff."
A nurse approached me with a document.
"Sign here, please," she said, handing me a clipboard with a pen.
I was still groggy and didn't have the energy to question her. Assuming it was a standard hospital form, I signed the document without reading its contents.
Only later, when I was feeling more alert, did I start to wonder what I had just signed. Was it a consent form for treatment? A billing agreement? Or something else entirely?
A nagging feeling in the back of my mind told me I should have read the document before signing it. The nurse had left a note
Please keep this information confidential
The baby you gave birth to is not a product of your husband's sperm. During the surrogacy Doctor Lucy took another man's sperm for you and she did this on purpose.
My mind was consumed by thoughts of Eric, my husband. I couldn't understand why he hadn't called to check on me or our baby. Didn't he care?
We had struggled to conceive, undergoing artificial insemination, and now that our child was finally here, he seemed absent.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I thought about the sacrifices we had made for this pregnancy.
"Where's Eric now? And why wasn't he here for us?"
*****
I alighted from the cab and I walked into the house with my newborn, shaking the rain off my coat. I was greeted by the sound of conversation coming from the bedroom. I recognized one of the voices - it was Lucy's, my best friend who had been a nurse at the hospital where I gave birth.
I laid Damien on the couch in the living room.
I smiled, expecting to see her sitting with Eric, chatting about my hospital stay or the baby. But as I entered the bedroom, she laid on top of Eric laughing loudly. The intimacy of the moment caught me off guard.
My eyes narrowed as I stared at both of them.
The dim lighting in the room, combined with the gloomy weather outside, added to the sense of foreboding I felt.
"Eric," I said.
He turned to me, a look of surprise on his face. "Hey, you're home. How was your hospital..."
"So this is what you guys get to do when am away" I interrupted
"What am I doing here?" Lucy asked
"I'm coming home from the hospital with my newborn baby, and I find you here, laughing and chatting with my husband like you're old friends." I raised my voice
"Babe, who let this dog into this house, she's really a nuisance and I don't like it…"
"Please can you leave my house, Lucy!, you're subtler!"
I tried to drag her down from my bed.
"Babe, will you sit and watch this bastard insult me?"
"Leave my house, Lucy! we've had enough of the joke" my expression turned cold, and she sneered at me.
"You're really that clueless, aren't you? Eric's mine, and Im going no where"
"Eric, did you hear what she just said?" I turned to Eric like I wanted to release triggers into his Goddamm skull.
"Mama, I think this whole marriage thing didn't exactly favour you," Lucy sneered, her voice dripping with venom. "I know everything, your little marriage, your desperate, failed attempts to have a baby. I know everythingggg…"
She dragged the last word with cruel delight, then turned to Eric and, right before my eyes, grabbed him and planted a kiss on his lips.
Rage surged through me.
I lunged forward, grabbed Lucy by the hair, and slapped her hard across the face.
She stumbled back, blinking in shock. "Wait, Sky, did you just slap me?" she said, eyes wide with faux innocence. Then, without hesitation, she slapped me right back.
"Skylar, any more of this shit and you're out of my house."
Eric's voice cut through the chaos, cold and sharp.
I froze.
What? My husband… was siding with her?
The betrayal hit me harder than the slap.
Her words cut deep, and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could my best friend say something like that? And what did she mean by "Eric's mine"? Was she talking about my husband?
I turned away from them, blinking back the hot sting of tears.
Without a word, I walked to the couch, picked up Damien, my son who was just 4 days old, my only anchor and held him close.
The dark sky outside cracked with thunder, and rain poured down like judgment.
I stepped out into it.
"Oh, you're leaving?" Lucy called mockingly from behind me. Her voice was sharp, laced with twisted satisfaction.
Before I could answer, she rushed inside, grabbed my boxes, and tossed it out after me straight into the downpour.
Where do I go from here??