Chapter 2
685 Words
I was on the verge of a complete breakdown, screaming at them like a woman possessed.
Lucas burst into tears, startled by my shouting.
Grant's face went dark. Mrs. Hudson was shaking with fury.
She jabbed her finger at my face.
"My son ruined his life the day he married a woman like you!
All I wanted was a grandson. But you had to give birth to that sickly little money pit! If your genes weren't so defective, my granddaughter wouldn't have been born weak in the first place!"
Mrs. Hudson was the textbook definition of someone who valued sons over daughters. From the moment I gave birth to Joy, she'd made her contempt clear.
She spread rumors everywhere. That it was all my fault. That my genetics were to blame. That a stronger woman would have produced a healthy child.
After unleashing her tirade, Mrs. Hudson stormed out.
Grant rocked Lucas gently in his arms, trying to calm him down. The look he gave me was impossible to read.
After they left, the room fell silent.
It wasn't until a nurse came in to set up my IV that I finally spoke, my voice raw and broken.
"Do you know where my daughter's body is? I want to see her."
The nurse looked at me with surprise.
"Your daughter? She's already been donated to the hospital. The father signed the paperwork.
She's in the specimen lab now—"
My ears were ringing. I couldn't process what she was saying.
"What specimen? Where is my daughter?"
My eyes went wide. My lips trembled. I swung my broken leg off the bed and tried to stand.
The nurse grabbed me, alarmed by my reaction.
"Ms. Jensen, you just came out of surgery — you can't walk yet!"
"Your husband signed a body donation agreement. It's a significant contribution to medical research. Please, try to stay calm."
The moment my post-surgical leg hit the floor, a bolt of white-hot pain shot through me and my vision went black.
Blood seeped from the reopened wound, pooling on the tile.
The nurse kept trying to hold me back. I gripped her arm with everything I had.
"I need to see my daughter. I never agreed to this! She's barely a month old — what gives this hospital the right to use her for research?!"
Seeing how frantic I was, the nurse reluctantly brought me to the specimen lab.
I saw Joy immediately.
I stood frozen in place. My fingertips trembled as they pressed against the glass.
She was suspended in formaldehyde. Her skin had turned a mottled blue-gray. She would never open her eyes again.
"This is illegal. I never consented to donating her body!"
I screamed without sound, my fists pounding against the glass over and over.
The nurse tried to restrain me, but she couldn't.
Security arrived within minutes. They dragged me out of the lab by force.
The nurse looked at me with genuine pity. She showed me the donation consent form. Grant Hudson's signature was right there, in black ink.
"I'm truly sorry for your loss."
I stared at his name on the paper. A metallic sweetness rose in my throat.
After what felt like an eternity, I pulled myself to my feet and looked up.
There, just down the corridor — Grant. With Sophia beside him, cooing at the baby nestled in his arms.
A stranger passing by would have thought they were the family.
I staggered toward him and seized his collar with both hands.
"Why?! Why would you do this to Joy?! She was YOUR daughter! I carried her for nine months! I nearly died bringing her into this world!"
My screams echoed through the hospital corridor. Everyone stopped and stared.
Grant's face turned black as ink. He clutched Lucas tighter and wrenched my hands off him.
"What is wrong with you? You're injured — you should be in bed, not out here making a scene.
I already told you, I'll figure something out for Joy. The medical care overseas is better. I won't let our daughter suffer — I promise."
- Writer
