The Blood Bank Bride

n ye

a blood bag, a platelet

the only perfect HLA match

stupidly, desperately

who lov

nai kept saying how luc

ck

ells harvested from my blood, leaving me weak and aching

el wealthy, worried. My architecture dr

Ethan. Hoping on

. A full bone marrow transpla

rage. My last, d

than my

ria

through with this transplant, the one t

s Wharton-educated mind probabl

'd plastered all over my tee

"Fine, Ava. If tha

. Just a t

e arrived. The operatin

ish part of me felt a sliver of tr

e harvest, some

s, urgent, cut throu

overwhelming,

kne

coul

at distance, Ethan's voic

le for Chloe? That'

d something abo

," Ethan repeated, his voice like ic

be

e, dis

e, my very existence, weighed again

The death of the fo

gasp.

snappe

om. Sunlight streame

, I look

. The smell

... a

sn't make it, so be it," burned in my mi

u gave us quite a scare. You fainted just as we

nsplant

in

ed. I had flatline

t was a memory, a ho

The deal for marriage, his callous agreement

ice. With the knowledge o

k here, before the final,

se seven years pr

harton man, already exuding power, visiting a friend. Chloe Vance, an NYU student, was on

nced my way. Bu

ive

I wanted: handsome, powerful

ed confidences about her health, had

, compatible donor, b

ain: "If Ava doesn'

tter, self-des

rs chasin

for a man who wouldn't care if I dropped

rity settl

m

s salvation. I wouldn't be his w

I would cho

later that day,

he arrangements? The transplant is schedul

ill in the blanks, to assure him

im, for the first time without the

Self-absor

ingly steady. "We need to be clea

ts the marrow she needs. And you get to be Mrs

ng, as if I were a child

inched. The new Ava felt

eft, a nurse came in

le I was "resting." She'd left a small, ex

ied about you,"

bted

ards, was her driver's license. Chloe Vance. Her address. He

sudden, sliced th

s, audaci

ith the transplant. And don't worry about the marriage licen

dy mentally moving on. "G

hy would he? Ava Chen, the l

oe Vance's

e marriage lice

Cole and C

my lips as I sealed the comp

e of liberation

orn for seven years were fin

been my mirage, but a