I Divorced Him, Now He's Begging Me Back!

Chapter 1

On the day his grandmother was buried, Ethan Hawthorne was 40 minutes late because he had gone to wipe another woman's tears.

That woman was not his wife.

Sienna Hayes was. After 3 years of marriage, she was the wife who had waited alone in the funeral hall for 40 minutes, holding their daughter in her arms.

She had been standing there since 8 that morning. Her daughter was feeling heavier, and Sienna's arms had long since gone numb, but she didn't dare shift her position and wake the sleeping child.

Outside the side entrance of the funeral home, the car hadn't moved for all 40 minutes. Its windows were misted over. Through them, Sienna could just make out Ethan bending close to smooth Vanessa Sullivan's rain-tousled hair, strand by strand.

Sienna knew those hands better than anyone. Yet watching them move with such tenderness now, she felt as though they belonged to a stranger, to someone whose life had nothing to do with hers.

"Keep an eye on Zoey. The press is here. Don't cause a scene." When Ethan approached, that was all he said. His gaze didn't pause on Sienna, much less rest on their daughter's face for even a second.

Sienna answered softly, so softly that even she could barely hear the hurt in her own voice.

Zoey had been diagnosed with mild autism at 3. Sienna had kept it from everyone: No one knew but Ethan.

She had been afraid that if the news got out, people would scrutinize Zoey's every move for the rest of her life.

Sienna had thought their shared secret was a wall they guarded together. Only now did she realize she had been standing watch alone all along.

"Zoey is a good girl. She won't run off at a time like this."

"Let's hope not." Ethan looked away and went back to Vanessa, steadying her by the arm.

On a rainy night 4 years earlier, Ethan had been in a car accident. The bones in both his legs had been shattered, leaving him despondent, a shell of his former self. His grandmother had come to Sienna, an orthopedic rehabilitation doctor, and asked her to treat him at home.

Sienna had stayed with him through the hardest 6 months, watching him rise from his wheelchair little by little, day after day.

The night he was able to walk again, the Hawthorne family held a celebration. Ethan drank too much, gripped her hand, and called a name again and again, his gaze so intense it made her heart melt.

She had offered him her whole heart, believing he was calling her name.

Later, she became pregnant, and they married as if it were the natural next step. 3 years passed. Then, 6 months earlier, Vanessa appeared, and Sienna discovered that Vanessa's name sounded somewhat like her own.

At the time, Sienna had told herself it was only a coincidence.

But now, standing in the funeral hall and watching Ethan lean close to whisper in Vanessa's ear until she laughed, the last trace of hope in Sienna's heart ebbed away, leaving her chest tight.

She stopped looking their way. She crouched down to give Zoey water and tried to keep as much distance as possible from the pair chatting and laughing.

Zoey's hand was cold. Sienna wrapped her own hand around it, trying to warm it.

"Hey, are you mute?"

A child's voice suddenly sounded nearby.

Sienna looked up and saw Milo, Vanessa's 3-year-old son, studying Zoey with his chin raised. His eyes held none of the innocence she expected from a child his age, only the spite of a spoiled child.

"You can't talk like that." Sienna stood and moved Zoey behind her. She kept her voice as steady as she could, though her heart had already begun to tremble.

"Mom said Daddy Ethan's daughter has something wrong with her head. She's stupid!" Milo grinned and reached for Zoey's braid.

Sienna went rigid. Not even the older members of the Hawthorne family knew about Zoey's diagnosis. This was Milo's first time meeting Zoey. How could he know so much?

Ethan must have told Vanessa in private.

That thought hurt far more than Milo calling Zoey stupid. It struck at the place Sienna was most vulnerable.

Before she could think any further, Milo moved closer. Zoey began to shake all over. The color drained from her face, and tears welled in her eyes, but she bit her lip hard and didn't dare cry aloud.

Years of being told not to lose control in front of other people had made that restraint instinctive. The sight made Sienna's chest ache.

She couldn't bear it anymore. She seized Milo's outstretched wrist and pulled him away from her daughter.

Her grip was light, but Milo reacted as though she had hurt him badly. He let out a sharp, piercing shriek. "That lady hit me!"

Ethan rushed over almost immediately. He pulled Milo into his arms and raised his voice. "What are you doing? How can you lay a hand on a child?"

"He was insulting Zoey." Sienna's fingertips shook, but she forced herself to finish the sentence.

"This is Milo's first time meeting her. How could he possibly insult her?" Ethan cut her off without hesitation. His eyes were colder than she had ever seen. "Don't make a scene now. You're only embarrassing yourself."

His words hit her like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head.

Sienna stared at him. In their 3 years of marriage, it was the first time Ethan had looked at her like that, as though she were a stranger who meant nothing to him.

Vanessa finally came over. The moment she saw her son crying, her eyes reddened. Her voice was soft and wounded. "Sienna, Milo is only 3. He's innocent..."

Before she could finish, tears were already streaming down her face, drawing the attention of every guest around them.

Not one person asked Zoey, "Are you all right?"

"Milo is Vanessa's son. What right do you have to accuse him?" Ethan's younger brother, Dylan Hawthorne, joined them, his tone full of mockery. "You are making a scene at Grandma's funeral. Do you think the Hawthornes haven't been embarrassed enough?"

People gathered around, some criticizing her, others watching in silence. Not one stood on her side.

Sienna looked down at Zoey, who was hiding behind her.

The little girl was shaking from head to toe. Tears streamed silently down her face, yet she still didn't dare make a sound.

It had been 4 years.

For 4 years, Sienna had cared for Ethan's parents, kept the Hawthorne household running, and pulled Ethan back from the depths of despair one step at a time. She had become the kind of daughter-in-law the Hawthornes could find no fault with.

And in the end, a careless accusation from a child she had met for the first time that day was enough to make everyone stand against her without a second thought.

Sienna suddenly laughed.

Tears fell without warning, cold against her skin.

"Ethan Hawthorne." Her voice was low, but she pronounced every word clearly. "Do you even care about your daughter?"

"Sienna Hayes, stop being unreasonable."

"Fine." She bent to pick Zoey up and turned toward the exit. "Then I'm being unreasonable."

"If you walk out today, don't ever come back!" His cold shout rang out behind her.

She did not stop.

Outside the funeral home, the wind drove the rain straight into her face. The cold drops cut like blades against her cheeks.

Sienna held Zoey closer, but let the rain soak her own shoulders and back as she walked, one step at a time, into the gray curtain of rain.

The child in her arms was light, but Sienna's heart was heavy. Water blurred her lashes, and she no longer knew whether it was rain or tears.

She had wanted to stay and say goodbye to Grandma one last time.

She had been the one who brought Sienna and Ethan together. In a sense, she had been the only person in the Hawthorne family who had truly cared for Sienna.

But after today, this family gave her no reason to stay.

That rainy night, Ethan had been drunk out of his mind, calling the same name again and again.

Standing in the rain, Sienna finally understood the truth.

The name he had called had never been hers.