Chapter 2

When Rosamund stood to leave, she saw me at the door.

She rose, and her eyes reddened at once.

"Irene, please don't be hard on Georgie. Her condition took a bad turn, and the doctors said any more delay would put her at risk. I know you need a new heart too, but at least you have Adrian to look after you."

I pulled at the corner of my mouth.

"Is that so?"

"Then who exactly is he looking after right now?"

Rosamund faltered at the question.

I didn't look at her again. I turned and walked toward the operating room.

She hurried after me and caught my arm. "Irene, don't do this. It's all my fault, you can do whatever you want to me, just don't hurt Georgie—"

Before she could finish, Georgina burst into tears.

Weak as she was, she pointed at me. "Daddy, she's bullying Mommy... the bad lady is bullying Mommy..."

Daddy.

What a mocking word to hear.

Adrian went stiff for a second.

As if afraid I'd misread it, he spoke with a trace of urgency, but he kept his voice very low.

"Irene, it's just a word. Georgie grew up without a father. She leans on me because she's missing that, that's why she calls me that. Don't read too much into it."

A dull, churning ache rose in my chest.

I didn't turn around. I forced myself to keep walking.

Seeing this, Rosamund whipped her head around and scolded sharply, "Georgie, you are not allowed to call him Daddy!"

Georgina only cried harder.

The look Adrian turned on me shifted in an instant to weary reproach.

"Irene, it's just a word. She's only a child. Why do you have to be so petty about every little thing?"

Petty.

My chest closed up until I could barely breathe.

I finally stopped, pointed at the hospital bed, and met his eyes.

"Adrian, if I were really petty, I'd have torn this hospital apart and made her give the heart back to me!"

"I'd have pointed in her face and warned her, 'Shut up, your father died a long time ago—'"

Before I could finish, Adrian shoved me hard.

His voice went cold.

"Irene, that's enough!"

I lost my footing and stumbled back two steps. My belly slammed into the door frame, and my back hit the floor hard.

For a moment the hallway went silent.

I pressed both hands against the cramping in my lower belly, cold sweat breaking across my forehead.

My chest felt so heavy I thought I'd black out in the next second.

Adrian panicked.

He crouched down quickly to help me up.

"I'm sorry, Irene. Georgie just came out of surgery. I only didn't want you upsetting her again..."

The words had barely left him when, over Georgina's crying, an alarm went off from the monitors in her room.

Adrian pulled his hand back from me almost at once.

I stared blankly at his retreating back, unable to say a single word.

After a few seconds, I braced against the floor and dragged myself up, inching my way toward the operating room.

Adrian glanced back at me once, then looked away again.

Inside the operating room, before the anesthetic, the doctor sighed softly.

"There's already a lot of bleeding in the uterus. Even if you hadn't come in for the procedure today, the baby couldn't have been saved."

I closed my eyes, and the tears slid down from the corners.

When it was over, I'd bled far more than most patients, and I stayed under observation in the recovery area until almost nightfall before they let me leave.

By the time I got home, I was so drained I could barely stand.

I leaned against the wall to open the door, and my whole body froze.

In the month and more I'd been gone, another woman's traces had spread all through the apartment.

A heart-shaped sticky note on the refrigerator.

Matching cups on the coffee table.

Even a lace bra hanging out on the balcony.

Rosamund was reclining on the sofa. When she saw me, she scrambled to her feet.

"Irene, don't get the wrong idea. Your place is close to the hospital, and Adrian didn't want me wearing myself out going back and forth, so he invited me to stay here for a while."

She was wearing one of my nightgowns.

The one I'd bought as a set for Adrian and me to wear together after the wedding.

Adrian came out of the bedroom at the sound of my voice.

His gaze passed over me, but he noticed nothing wrong.

"Why are you back?"

I looked at him weakly. "This is my home. Am I not allowed to come back?"

Adrian paused, something reluctant in his eyes.

"What I mean is, shouldn't you be at the hospital right now? Why did you discharge yourself without telling me?"

"I was even planning to go keep you company later tonight."

I said nothing and forced myself toward the bedroom.

Rosamund's eyes reddened at once. "I'll leave right now. Irene, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Please, please don't fight with Adrian again. He did three surgeries today and didn't even have time to eat. He's really exhausted."

She started gathering her things as she spoke.

She'd taken barely two steps when her body swayed.

Adrian caught her instantly. "Why are you pushing yourself like this?"

Tears spilled from Rosamund's eyes.

"Adrian, I don't want to put you in a difficult spot."

Adrian looked at me, his voice worn thin with exhaustion.

"Irene, everyone's been exhausted lately."

"Stop making trouble. Be reasonable, all right?"

Reasonable.

I thought I'd already been reasonable enough.

But all my being reasonable had bought me was worse, more brazen hurt.

I pointed at the door and looked at Rosamund.

"Weren't you leaving?"

"There's the door."

Adrian's voice turned cold at once.

"Irene!"

"I told you there would be a matching heart source. Why do you keep blowing everything out of proportion just to make things hard for Rosamund?"

Blowing things out of proportion.

I pulled at the corner of my mouth and nodded.

"Yes. On this, I can't let it go."

Rosamund gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye.

"Adrian, don't say any more. I'll go."

And with that she headed for the door.

Adrian hurriedly grabbed her coat from the hook by the entryway and chased after her.

Just before he went out, he looked at me once.

His eyes were full of reproach.