Divorcing the Husband Who Chose Her

Sidney Harding's first instinct when a patient dispute erupts is to pull his intern, Cecily Swanson, into his arms, shoving his wife aside. Bleeding and ignored, Sheila Simmons is told to cover Cecily's night shift; Sidney dismisses her pain as jealousy and carries Cecily away. Only later does Sheila learn she was a month pregnant, and that the baby is gone.

For a month she had done the work of two people while Sidney piled Cecily's duties onto her, even as he took Cecily to the theme park he once promised Sheila. When the hospital director mentions a transfer to the European branch, Sheila asks to take it, slips off her wedding ring, and files the paperwork. Sidney brings her congee buried in the scallions that once nearly killed her, then panics when Cecily runs off in tears.

Then a patient's family accuses Cecily of a fatal medication error, and Sidney orders Sheila to confess to it and end her own career. Her transfer is approved; the divorce papers are signed.