After five years of being married, David Smith had always seemed to love me to bits.
But there was this one huge thing missing in our marriage that felt like a gaping hole.
We didn't have a kid, you know, that little bundle of joy that's supposed to be the proof of our love.
Ever since I had that miscarriage two years back, I just couldn't get pregnant again.
David finally managed to score an appointment with one of the top doctors in the country for me. We were on our way to the hospital, all hopeful, when out of the blue, we got into a car crash.
David, his eyes all red with what I thought was worry, rushed me into the operating room.
I was kind of in and out of it, but I heard him talking to the doctor.
"Just cut out her kidney and get it into Jane's kid, pronto! Coco can't hold on much longer. And when she wakes up, tell her we had to do the surgery 'cause of some abdominal bleeding," he barked.
The doctor, looking at my blood - covered body, looked real uncomfortable. "Mr. Smith, your wife's a gymnast. If we take out one of her kidneys, she won't be able to do gymnastics no more."
"Besides, your wife's a person. How can we just..."
David cut him off, ice - cold. "Don't give me that crap. Just do what I said!"
"Ella White can live with one kidney, but if Coco kicks the bucket, Jane's gonna lose it."
They shot the anesthetic into me, and I started to fade.
I wanted to say something, but I didn't even have the energy to open my mouth.
And I knew for a fact that Jane didn't have a kid. She just had this dog named Coco.
When I came to, I was lying in the hospital bed. David was over by the window, yapping on the phone.
"Make sure the car crash looks like a total accident. No matter who noses around, it's gotta be an accident. Keep an eye on Jane and Coco for me. I'm swamped here."
His words were so clear, it was like a punch in the gut.
I just stared up at that white ceiling, and the tears started rolling down my face.
So, turns out, David was the one who set up this whole car accident.
David Smith, having just wrapped up his phone call and spun around, turned as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof the second he caught sight of me with my eyes wide open.
"Ella, you feelin' okay anywhere? Does it sting? What's with the tears?"
All these questions that seemed so caring made me half - believe I'd just had a crazy, bad dream.
But then there was that scar on my waist from the kidney removal, still throbbing away.
I clung to that last little bit of hope. "Coco, that Jane's dog, right?"
David Smith didn't give it a second thought.
"Yeah, Jane's had Coco for three years now. She dotes on that dog like it's her own kid. Coco had a kidney transplant just yesterday and is still over at the pet hospital."