My Doctor Mother Wouldn’t Pull Strings for Me—Until I Died Chapter 03

My Doctor Mother Wouldn’t Pull Strings for Me—Until I Died Chapter 03

After my parents divorced, my mother raised me alone.

I was a sickly child, and to take better care of me, she—one of the top trauma surgeons in the state—went to work as an assistant in the pediatrics.

Weston lived next door. He’d looked out for me since we were kids.

Once, when my mother had a night shift and I spiked a sudden fever, he stubbornly stayed by my side all night, refusing to leave no matter who told him to.

When it came time for college, he turned down an Ivy League acceptance and chose medicine instead, becoming my mother’s last disciple before her retirement.

“Adeline, I want to take care of you for the rest of my life.”

When did it all change?

It must have started around the time my mother took in Brynn—a girl from our dorm who’d grown up poor.

Pale, pretty, looking like she’d blow over in a strong wind, yet always putting on a brave face, gritting her teeth and insisting, “I’m fine!”

At first, my mother said:

“Brynn doesn’t have parents, and she’s not strong. Look out for her, would you?”

Later, she’d wrap an arm around Brynn and frown at me.

“Look at Brynn. So mature, so tough. Can’t you learn some independence instead of whining over every little thing?”

Seeing me hurt by that, Weston grew even more hostile toward Brynn.

“That girl’s a fake. She puts on a show every time your mom’s around!”

But slowly, his gaze started lingering on Brynn longer and longer.

“She’s really had it hard, you know. It’s kind of admirable, how strong she is… Adeline, just let her have this one.”

Even today—the day Weston and I were supposed to get our marriage license—because Brynn had begged to go buy a cake from that Instagram-famous bakery to celebrate for us, Weston had detoured without a second thought.

He’d even run a red light trying to make up time, and collided with a dump truck.

Right before the crash, he’d wrenched the wheel hard, spinning the whole car sideways.

He and Brynn came away nearly unscathed.

But my seat, in the back, had taken the full weight of several tons of truck.

Shattered glass had sliced into my skin and buried itself inside my body.

That piece of glass—had it hit my heart? Why else would it hurt like my heart was about to stop?

Waves of the metallic smell of blood kept rising. Pain radiated through my stomach.

My overwhelming will to survive kept my mind clear.

I can’t die here.

I braced myself against the edge of the nurses’ station and pulled myself up, inch by inch.

“Please… help me transfer to another hospital…”

The nurse looked up, unbothered.

“Without a doctor’s discharge order, we can’t process a transfer.”

I forced down the taste of iron in my mouth.

“Then call me an ambulance… send me somewhere else…”

“Fine!” The nurse finally stood up and picked up the POS machine.

“That’ll be six hundred dollars for the ambulance. How will you be paying?”

I froze. My wallet was emptier than my own hands.

Ever since Brynn moved into our house, my mother had suddenly started insisting I learn to live “modestly” like she had.

Brynn got a thousand dollars a month in allowance. But I had to write a request form for every single dollar I spent.

Yesterday, I’d submitted a reimbursement request for cab fare to the County Clerk’s Office.

My mother had glanced at it and tossed it back.

“It’s a few blocks away. You need to spend money on that? Brynn used to walk twenty miles to school every day and never complained once!”

That’s why Weston had been the one picking me up, and my phone was lost in the car accident too.

Seeing I wasn’t moving, the nurse scoffed.

“You might as well go sit back down. Dr. Marsh already said—once she’s done with all the other patients, she’ll get to you.”

“The director’s made it clear—everything by the book. No exceptions for anyone.”

My legs shook violently. My knees buckled, and I started to collapse.

A hand caught me and held me steady.

Nurse Daphne, eyes red, spoke urgently.

“I’ll pay for the ambulance!”

The nurse across from her snapped.

“Daphne, why are you sticking your neck out for this? You want to end up on laundry duty too?”

Daphne pulled me closer against her.

“I went into nursing to save people, not to stand around while someone suffers!”

She held me up, guiding me step by step toward the exit.

My mother’s voice cut through from behind us.

“Adeline Marsh, where do you think you’re going? Brynn’s lost a lot of blood, you need to give her some!”

I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“She just has a five-centimeter cut…”

“Brynn’s already anemic! Every drop of blood matters for her!”

My mother’s tone left no room for argument.

“You’re a doctor’s daughter. You need to have some sense of duty!”

I forced out a ragged breath, my voice barely recognizable.

“Mom… the screening report I left on your desk. Did you read it?”