CHAP 3 — What Sophie Heard
I should not have gone back to Sophie’s room that night.
Every professional boundary told me to stay away.
But at 10:42 p.m., my phone buzzed with a message from Eli.
Sophie can’t sleep. She keeps asking for the pretty baby doctor. Please.
I stared at the text for a full minute.
Then I went.
Not for him.
For her.
Sophie was awake, sitting up in the pediatric bed with her wrist in a splint and a blanket pulled to her chin. Her face lit with tired relief when I entered.
“Dr. Valerie.”
“Hi, Sophie. How’s the pain?”
“Better.”
Eli stood near the doorway, motionless.
I ignored him and checked Sophie’s chart.
She looked at my stomach.
“Is your baby a girl?”
My throat tightened.
“I think so.”
That was not the truth.
I knew it was a girl.
I had known for weeks.
Sophie smiled faintly.
“I always wanted a sister.”
Eli looked down.
Then Sophie’s smile faded.
“But Grandma said that baby should never be born into this family.”
The room went silent.
My hand froze on the chart.
Eli’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Sophie looked frightened by his tone.
“I wasn’t supposed to hear. Grandma was talking to Uncle Ryan. She said Dr. Valerie was trying to trap you. She said the baby would steal everything from me.”
Eli’s face turned white.
“Sophie…”
“She said if the baby came, you’d forget me.”
My heart cracked.
I sat beside the bed, keeping my voice soft.
“Sophie, that is not true. A baby does not steal love.”
Her eyes filled.
“Then why was Grandma so mad?”
Eli looked like he had been struck.
I turned toward him.
“Ask her.”
He pulled out his phone with shaking hands and called his mother.
She answered on speaker.
“Eli, finally. Is Sophie all right?”
His voice was low.
“What did you say to my daughter about Valerie’s baby?”
Silence.
Then Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“You need to come home before that woman manipulates you.”
Eli closed his eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I protected you.”
“No,” he said. “What did you do?”
Another silence.
Then Ryan’s voice in the background.
“Mom, don’t talk on the phone.”
Eli looked at me.
Something inside him had finally opened, but it was not enough to heal what he had broken.
I took one step closer.
“Your mother came to my apartment with a lawyer.”
His eyes lifted slowly.
“What?”
“She offered me money to disappear. Then threatened my career.”
Eli’s mouth parted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I stared at him.
“Because you had already shown me who you listened to.”
That hurt him.
May you like
Good.
Truth should hurt when it arrives late.
