A BABY FOR THE CEO

ONE

HELEN

“Mikhail!” I screamed as wave after wave of intense pain crashed through me. It took a while for my brain to realize that, of course, he wasn’t here. This was a Monday morning, and he was probably at work.

I bit down on my lower lip till I tasted blood. With the last of my strength, I crawled over to the nightstand and grabbed my phone.

He didn’t pick at the first ring… and the second… and the third.

A different kind of pain brought tears to my eyes. Of course, I should have known. Mikhail was never really there when I needed him. I could only imagine the lame excuses he’d come up with for why he didn’t pick my calls—why he never did, why he never even had time for me anymore.

I swallowed, and another wave of pain hit me. My vision blurred, and I was too scared to look down as I felt sticky wetness pool below me.

I s*ck*d in a breath, trying to force my shaky finger to type. For a while, I forgot my gynecologist’s name, and even when I remembered it, it took a while to find his number.

Unlike my husband, he answered immediately.

“Hello, Helen… hello?”

There was something calm and reassuring about the concern in his voice.

“Send an ambulance,” I breathed out. “I think—I think I’m losing my baby.”

That was the last thing I remembered before darkness engulfed me.

I woke to a beeping sound, a room that smelled faintly of antiseptic, and a horrible feeling of emptiness in my heart.

I forced my eyes open as a sob tore through my throat. The sound caught the attention of the woman–probably some kind of nurse– who had been looking at some charts on a monitor. She turned to face me with a kind smile.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Lorenzo?”

I could only shake my head as the tears kept streaming. “My baby? Did I–”

She nodded, with that same mechanical ‘kind’ expression on her face, then she walked over to the bed. “Would you like to call a family member, someone to offer emotional support? Or to take you home?”

Mikhail. My mind went straight to him. Would he pick now? Now that my world was crashing around me? I nodded, and called out his number while the nurse punched it into the hospital’s landline. He picked up immediately.

For a split second, it felt like things were not that bad after all as I pressed the receiver against my ear and heard his familiar voice.“Hello?” There was a tentative tilt to his deep voice, and I realized he didn’t know who it was– I had used the hospital’s phone.

“Mikhail, it’s me, Helen. I– I’m in the hospital, can you please come over?” I choked out as the tears filled my eyes once again.

I hadn’t yet told him about the pregnancy, so how could I tell him about the miscarriage? I had planned it as a surprise reveal for Father’s Day, which was just a week away, and then suddenly, I had woken to this.

There was a long pause on his end, and when he spoke next, his voice was back to the stern, disinterested way he spoke to me, like the voice of an adult talking to a petulant child. "Listen to me, Helen. Don’t ever pull something like this again. You know attention-seeking is disgusting. It doesn’t suit you in the least.” I shook my head, trying to make sense of his words. “Mikhail, I don’t understand… I–”

“What? So you kept disturbing me during my work hours, and when I didn’t pick up, you decided to pull this stunt? Lately, you’ve been doing nothing but nag, cry, and get unnecessarily emotional, and now this! In fact, I can’t deal with this right now. I’m in the middle of something.”

“Mikhail, wait, you don’t understand–” I started to say, but then the click from the other end showed he had already hung up.

The nurse was saying something as I handed her the phone back, but I couldn’t hear her– not if my life depended on it. The beeping sound intensified, and from the corner of my eyes, I could see nurses scrambling about.

I couldn’t really understand what was going on. I just knew that I wanted to die. What was the point of staying alive when there was not a single soul on earth that wanted me?

Not my family, not my husband, and now, my baby was gone.

I pressed my face down against the pillow, letting it muffle my screams as I cried.

I must have fallen asleep, or passed out again, because when I woke next, the beeping had stopped, and everything was calm again. My eyes were puffy and hurt from crying, and my throat felt like I had swallowed a mouthful of gravel.

The door opened, and someone– another nurse– poked her head in, then stepped inside.

“Mrs. Lorenzo, how are you feeling?”

“Like death,” I whispered hoarsely.

She nodded as though she had expected a similar answer. “The hospital has provided a change of clothes, and we’ll call a taxi for you if you want to get discharged today, you’ve been cleared by the doctors, that is.”

I nodded, finally turning to face her fully. I could barely see her through the haze of my reddened eyes. “What’s your name, Nurse?” I asked, forcing a smile.

“Patty,” she smiled back, and I hated the pity I saw in her eyes.

“Patty, can you please tell me what was wrong with me?”

“You mean the miscarriage, or after?”

“Both?”

Why did she have that same pitying look in her eyes like the other nurse had?

She tried to smile at me again, but it only made me feel worse. “The doctor says there was a placental eruption. That’s what caused the miscarriage, and afterwards, you had a minor panic attack.” She paused and drew in a breath. “Look, if you want to speak with the health psychologist, all you need to do is give your go-ahead and we’ll ring up–”

I shook my head. “That’s not necessary. Please tell me what caused the placental eruption.”

Again, that look. “It can be caused by severe emotional distress. When a mother faces emotional pain, it can raise her cortisol levels to toxic heights, which then–”

I zoned out from whatever she was saying as realization dawned on me. I was the cause of my miscarriage. The one person the universe had given me, the child I could love and cherish with everything in me–I had caused its death with my stupid crying and mood swings.

“Call a cab, please,” I said woodenly to the nurse, then forced myself up and headed to the bathroom.

When the cab finally showed up, I didn’t give him the house address. I gave him Mikhail’s office address. He had just lost his child, and no matter what, he deserved to know how.

TWO

HELEN

"Good evening, ma’am. How may I help you?”

The lady at the reception desk asked, listlessly chomping away at gum and not even bothering to look at me.

“Hmmm… I’d like to see the CEO, please?” I stammered. I had never really been to Mikhail’s head office, and I suddenly felt foolish.

Was I supposed to check in, or just walk straight in, or demand she direct me? I wasn’t the typical ‘boss’s wife,’ mostly because Mike never took me places with him. He said all he wanted was for me to relax at home and enjoy his wealth, but over time, I could tell he had other reasons.

“Is he expecting you?” the lady asked, typing away at her computer, still not bothering to look at me.

“No.” I shook my head, sucking in a breath. “But I’m his wife.”

Her head shot up to look at me then, and she gasped. “OMG! What happened to you, Mrs. Lorenzo?”

I had gotten the nurse to get me some makeup and tied a scarf around my face to hide