The Daughter I Paid For

My ex-husband saw the words "autism" on my daughter's diagnosis and slapped me across the face without hesitation.

"You slut! You must have cheated while you were pregnant. Three generations of the Smith family, and we've never had a single idiot!"

He forced me to sign divorce papers, threw down five hundred dollars, and vanished, cursing: "Raising this money pit? What rotten luck!"

For that one-in-ten-thousand chance of recovery, I quit my director position, sold everything of value, and during the hardest times, even waited in line at the hospital to sell my blood.