Chapter 271
A human life comes first-no matter how big the problem, nothing should outweigh that.
Effie stayed close to Mrs. Butler as they climbed into the ambulance. Only then did Irving Butler finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Damn you, Irving Butler! I swear I’ll never forgive you!” Mrs. Butler spat the words through clenched teeth.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down,” a paramedic urged, concern in his voice.
“Getting this upset isn’t good for your baby.”
Mrs. Butler knew he was right, but the pain inside her was suffocating. If she didn’t
let it out, she thought she might just explode.
Suddenly, a warm hand reached for hers.
She turned her head and saw Effie beside her.
For a moment, Mrs. Butler just looked at Effie, her emotions tangled up and words caught in her throat.
Effie squeezed her hand. “Don’t waste another thought on that man. If he really cared about you, he’d be here right now.”
Her words cut deep, like a knife straight to Mrs. Butler’s heart.
She’d always known the truth, really. She just chose to pretend she didn’t.
“We met our freshman year. We went through so much before finally getting together. And now-now it’s our seventh year, the year everyone warns you about. I just can’t accept it. I can’t…”
She’d always had trouble conceiving, and for this baby, she’d endured every kind of treatment, tried everything she could. It hadn’t been easy, not one bit. She’d given so much—her body, her hope, her heart.
How could she let go now?
“Why is it so easy for men to lose interest? All those promises-they just forget them?”
Effie’s expression softened, a shadow flickering in her eyes. “Who knows?” she murmured.
“You hear it everywhere-men and women see things so differently. Men, it’s like they’re always subtracting, always finding faults, until eventually there’s nothing left-no passion, no spark. But women, we’re different. We find reasons to forgive, to hold on, to keep loving until we’ve given everything, until the score is full.”
“Men and women just handle love in their own ways. So, of course, what we want is different, too.”
Effie’s voice was gentle and steady, patient as a counselor. Little by little, Mrs. Butler’s breathing slowed, her anger ebbing away.
One of the paramedics gave Effie a thumbs-up, impressed by how much wisdom this young woman seemed to have.
Once Mrs. Butler was at the hospital, a battery of tests confirmed that it was only the stress and cramping that had caused her pain-nothing more serious, thankfully.
The doctor gave her a stern look. “You know how hard it was to get pregnant. Take care of yourself, and don’t waste this chance.”
Mrs. Butler nodded, lips pressed together, chastened like a child caught misbehaving.
Effie stayed with her through every exam. When it was time to leave, Effie gently
led Mrs. Butler down the corridor, ready to see her safely home.
“I don’t think I can go back to my house tonight,” Mrs. Butler said quietly. “I’d rather stay at a hotel.”
“Of course,” Effie replied without hesitation.
Mrs. Butler hesitated, then added, “Ever since I got married, my whole life has revolved around my husband, my little family. Somewhere along the way, I stopped having friends of my own.”
There was a rare vulnerability in her voice. Meeting Effie felt like a lifeline, and she desperately wanted to reach out, to form some kind of connection.
But Effie just smiled politely, making no move to encourage her.
Mrs. Butler gave a weak laugh. “Miss Bagnold, when you were talking about
betrayal earlier, you sounded like you really understood. Did someone do that to
you, too?”
Effie’s lips twitched in a hint of a smile. “That’s all in the past now.”
“Do you still hate them?” Mrs. Butler pressed.