Chapter 1
Every winter, my husband and son break out in hives around me. Red, angry welts cover their skin. In severe cases, they struggle to breathe.
So when the cold sets in, they pack up and move to another house.
Because of this, I’ve never spent a single Christmas with them.
Another spring arrives.
I’m thrilled to finally have them home, when I happen to catch them talking outside the window.
“Dad, we only get to see Willow mommy in winter. Can’t we make the allergy thing last longer?”
Willow Ashford? My husband’s childhood sweetheart? I move closer to the window-
“Too many antihistamines aren’t good for you. Willow mommy would worry. But I promise I’ll bring you back to see her whenever I can.”
“But I’m not itchy anymore. Can I eat mango candies again? I really wanna go back now.”
Mango? The allergen I’ve moved heaven and earth to keep my son away from?
My heart seizes. I stand frozen.
Five years of love crumbles in an instant. Turns out it was all a lie…
I stumble out the door in a daze and catch my son red-handed, clutching a bag of mango candies.
“Mom… I…”
“Eat up. Eat until you choke. You’re getting exactly what you wanted.”
-A life without me
Jasper looked thrown. He just stood there, speechless.
After a long pause, he tore open a mango candy wrapper.
The hope in his eyes cut deep.
He probably figured eating it would send him straight back into his Willow mommy’s arms.
All those warnings I’d drilled into him. The allergy notice laminated on his school ID. All for nothing.
Suddenly, Reed rushed over and smacked the candy out of Jasper’s hand.
“Rowan, what’s gotten into you today? He almost ate a mango candy. You know how serious his allergy is!”
Right. I knew.
I’d even hunted down every trace of mango like it was a bomb.
13:05
I Was His Allergen. She Was The Cure. What If This Allergen Turns Lethal?
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Chapter 1
Checked every snack label, every carton of milk, reading ingredients letter by letter, terrified I’d miss something.
I warned Jasper over and over.
“If anyone offers you mango, don’t eat it, okay? Or you’ll end up in the hospital getting shots. They’ll poke you so many times you won’t be able to sit down.”
I warned his teachers and classmates until I sounded like a broken record.
“Jasper’s severely allergic to mango. Please keep an eye out.”
I treated mango like a loaded gun.
But that candy? Reed gave it to him.
Just because it was their golden ticket to see his secret lover.
I kept my voice flat:
“Why does he have mango candy in the first place? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
Panic flickered across Reed’s face before he brushed it off and took Jasper to the living room.
They were used to coming home to a table loaded with food and handmade gifts.
My way of celebrating our family reunion.
Not this time. The table sat empty.
Reed frowned.
“Rowan, what’s going on with you today?”
He saw my eyes turning red and sighed.
“Are you still upset? I’ll figure out how to fix this allergy thing. I hate that winter keeps me away when you need me most.”
My nails dug into my palms.
So he did remember.
When I was pregnant, my mom got leukemia. Reed wanted to save the baby. I wanted to save my mom.
“I’m donating my bone marrow. I don’t care what anyone says.”
No one had a harder choice than me. I loved my baby too. But that was my mother.
Then Mom’s condition nosedived, like she’d found out somehow.
She became too sick for the transplant.
That’s when we realized-she’d stopped taking her meds. She’d given her chance at life to my unborn child.
I gritted my teeth through labor, but postpartum hormones hit like a freight train. I spiraled into depression.
Winter was the worst. Alone in that house, darkness pressing in from every corner.
13:05
I Was His Allergen, She Was The Cure. What If This Allergen Turns Lethal?
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