Chapter 4
Amelia's POV
Thirty minutes felt like thirty hours. When Dr. Martinez finally walked in with a clipboard, his face told me everything before he even opened his mouth.
Behind him, the same nurse from earlier hovered nervously by the door.
"Ms. Brook," he said quietly, sitting down in the chair beside my bed. "I need to show you the latest ultrasound results."
He handed me a sheet of paper covered in medical terminology that might as well have been written in a foreign language. But four words at the bottom were crystal clear in English: "No fetal heart activity."
The onesie fell from my hands to the floor.
"I'm very sorry," Dr. Martinez continued, his voice professional but gentle. "The fetus has stopped developing. It could be stress from the procedure, or possibly lingering effects from... previous medication."
'Previous medication.' He meant the abortion pills Remy had tried to force down my throat weeks ago.
"No," I said, staring at the report. "No, you're lying. You told me yesterday everything would be fine. You promised me my baby would be safe!"
I grabbed the pillow from behind my back and hurled it at him. "You killed my baby! You and Remy planned this together, didn't you?"
The nurse stepped forward, trying to restrain me, but I shoved her away.
"Ms. Brook, please understand—we did everything we could. Medical complications sometimes occur despite our best efforts."
"Get out!" I screamed, my voice cracking completely. "All of you, get out!"
Dr. Martinez sighed and stood up. "I'll leave you some time to process this. If you need anything for the pain—"
"The only pain I have is knowing you murdered my child!"
After they left, I slid off the bed and picked up the tiny onesie from the floor. The yellow ducks smiled up at me mockingly.
My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the cold linoleum, clutching the fabric to my chest.
An hour later, angry footsteps echoed down the hallway. Remy appeared in my doorway, his face dark with fury as he took in the scene—overturned water pitcher, scattered medical papers, me sitting on the floor in yesterday's hospital gown.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he snapped, not even stepping fully into the room. "The nurses called me saying you were having a breakdown. Do you know how embarrassing this is?"
I looked up at him through swollen eyes. "Our baby is dead, Remy."
He paused for exactly one second. "So?"
"So?" I repeated, my voice barely a whisper.
"I told you weeks ago to get rid of it. I told you it would only cause problems. Now you're acting surprised that something went wrong?"
The coldness in his voice hit me like a physical blow. I struggled to my feet, still clutching the onesie.
"You knew," I said slowly. "You knew the surgery might kill our baby, and you didn't tell me."
"I knew that keeping an unwanted pregnancy was stupid!" he shouted back. "And look what happened! Now Olivia's worried sick because the nurses told her about your little tantrum!"
'Olivia's worried.' Not him. Olivia.
"You bastard," I breathed. "You're worried about her being upset that I lost our child?"
"It wasn't our child!" Remy's face was red now, spittle flying from his mouth. "It was a mistake! A problem! And if you can't handle that reality, then maybe you shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place!"
Something snapped inside me. I lunged at him, my fingernails going straight for his face, wanting to claw out his eyes.
"You killed my baby!" I screamed, raking my nails down his cheek. "You killed him!"
Remy grabbed my wrists and shoved me backward. Hard.
I hit the floor again, pain shooting up my tailbone, but all I could do was stare up at him.
"You know what?" he said, straightening his shirt with sharp, angry movements. "I should never have let you donate bone marrow in the first place. You're completely insane."
"What did you just say?"
"I said you're a fucking problem, Amelia. You always have been."
He turned and walked out, leaving me sitting on the cold floor in a puddle of my own despair.
The nurse who came to clean up the mess had kind eyes and gentle hands. She helped me back into bed and handed me a cup of water I couldn't bring myself to drink.
"I saw Mr. Perry in the lobby earlier," she said quietly, not quite meeting my eyes. "He was carrying a cake box toward Miss Olivia's room."
I said nothing. What was there to say?
"Honey," she continued, tucking the blanket around me like I was a child, "maybe it's time to stop thinking about Mr. Perry. He's not worth all this pain."
"He used to love me," I whispered. "Ten years ago, he told me I was his everything."
"Ten years ago was ten years ago," she said sadly. "People change. And right now, his everything is that girl upstairs."
After she left, I lay in the darkness for hours, staring at the ceiling. My body felt hollow, like someone had scooped out my insides and left only an empty shell.
Around midnight, I slipped out of bed and padded barefoot down the hallway. The hospital was quiet except for the soft beeping of machines and distant conversations between night staff.
I found myself at the back exit that led to the small lake behind the building. The cold air bit through my thin hospital gown, but I barely felt it.
'Maybe I should just walk into the water,' I thought numbly. 'Maybe that would be easier than living with this emptiness.'
But as I approached the lake, I heard familiar laughter coming from a bench partially hidden by trees.
I stopped, my bare feet suddenly rooted to the damp grass.
There, silhouetted against the moonlight, were Remy and Olivia. She was curled up against his side, feeding him bites of strawberry cake with a plastic fork.
"You're so good to me," Olivia giggled, her voice carrying clearly across the water. "I was so worried when I heard about Amelia's surgery complications."
Remy stroked her hair, his voice softer than I'd heard it in months. "Don't worry about her anymore, baby. She made her choice to keep that pregnancy, and now she's dealing with the consequences. That's not our problem."
"But losing a baby must be so devastating—"
"She got what she deserved," Remy interrupted, his tone matter-of-fact. "I told her to abort it weeks ago. She didn't listen. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."
I stood frozen behind the tree, my fingernails digging into the bark until they split.
'Got what I deserved.'
Ten years of love, sacrifice, and devotion. And this was what I deserved.
"I love you so much," Olivia murmured against his chest. "Promise me you'll never leave me for someone else."
"Never," Remy replied, kissing the top of her head. "You're the only woman I've ever truly loved."
I turned and walked back toward the hospital, my feet moving automatically across the cold ground.
'The only woman he's ever truly loved.'
Not me. Never me.