She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 87

87 /135

Hulda rushed into the hospital room just as Herbert arrived. She actually watched him walk through the door mere seconds before her.

Miles' teacher had explained that the boy had suddenly started vomiting violently during class, accompanied by a dangerously high fever. Suspecting severe food poisoning or a gastrointestinal infection, and knowing the prominent background of the children at that specific private school, the teacher hadn't dared delay. She rushed him straight to the ER.

When she couldn't get ahold of Hulda after multiple frantic calls, she had finally contacted Herbert.

That must have been why Herbert was calling her, but her phone had been on silent.

Despite the bone-deep chill that had settled in her heart regarding the boy, she was still his mother. Until he was an adult, she had a fundamental responsibility to him.

The moment Hulda stepped inside the room, Valery—usually so poised and elegant—turned on her like a rabid dog.

"What kind of mother are you?!" Valery shrieked, her eyes red and puffy from crying, her voice shaking with rage. "Your son is in the hospital, and you don't even bother answering your phone! If something had happened to my grandson, how were you going to pay for it?!"

Hulda gave Valery a flat, icy look. She didn't bother arguing. She walked straight past the furious woman to the side of the hospital bed.

Miles was asleep, his face alarmingly pale and slick with cold sweat. A deep frown marred his little features, clearly in pain. A delicate IV needle was taped securely to the back of his chubby hand.

She had already spoken to the attending physician in the hallway. Miles was fine—it was a severe bout of a pediatric stomach bug. He needed three days of IV fluids to flush it out, and then he'd be fully recovered.

He would just be incredibly weak for the next few days and required a strictly monitored diet.

Seeing him like this, it was impossible for Hulda not to feel a pang of heartache. She had carried him for nine months. For years, she had poured every ounce of her soul into this child.