Chapter 4

Emily’s POV

I tried to sit up but hissed when my hand sank into a ceramic piece. I had fallen on the shattered bowl. Now, I was covered in cuts and “fertility soup.” Yay.

A movement to my right startled me, and I looked to see Lucy there, seemingly unaffected by my fainting spell and subsequent injuries. She couldn’t care less about me; I knew that. It was just startling to see her exact level of indifference. For god’s sake, she was yawning. Like my pain bored her.

I heard the front door open before fully collecting myself and trying to rise to my feet. I knew it was Louis just by his thundering footsteps as he ran across the house towards the kitchen. When he entered the room, his eyes immediately zeroed in on me, and seemingly genuine concern appeared on his face.

“Emily,” he murmured as he walked over and carefully knelt beside me. “Emily, are you okay? What happened?”

Why was he so concerned? Didn’t he remember what I had screamed at him through the phone?

He put his hands on my arms, and I couldn’t help but relax a bit under the warmth of his palms. Damn, I should have resisted. I should have pushed him away and torn him a new one. But I didn’t.

“Emily isn’t feeling well. You should get her checked out at the hospital,” Lucy said, her tone was sharp but not malicious—not in front of Louis.

“Mom, what happened? Why is she covered—?”

Lucy waved a hand to dismiss his concern. “It’s nothing. We had a little disagreement, and she accidentally dropped the soup I made for her. Then she fainted and fell right on top of it. I didn’t know what to do; I’m so glad you came home when you did, son.”

Of course, Lucy would do all she could to distance herself from any responsibility and then play the damsel in distress.

Lucy always knew how to twist the narrative around in her favor to make sure, if anything, I looked like the problem. Her pure malice toward me was well hidden under a carefully constructed façade—something Louis never seemed to grasp.

Lucy rose to her feet and collected her things. “I’ll give you both some space,” she said and glanced at me as if she were being gracious. “But remember, Emily, drinking all of that wine will only hurt your overall health.”

Louis glanced over to her as he slowly helped me to my feet. “Mom, don’t do that. Please don’t overstep. Whether you like it or not, Emily is my wife. There’s no one else for me.”

Lucy’s smile twitched into a grimace for a moment. Before yesterday, I would have felt love and pride at Louis for standing up for me. But now, I couldn’t feel anything besides sadness and apathy. I was numb.

“Of course, dear,” Lucy said too sweetly. “I’ll leave you to it.”

With that, she left, and the air felt a little bit lighter. IF only just. The tension between Louis and I could still be cut with a knife. “Come on,” he said as he gently led me to the side door towards the car, “Let’s get you to the hospital.”

The ride to the hospital was pretty silent. I stared blankly out the window, barely feeling the stinging cuts on my arms and hands. I saw Louis in the window reflection, glancing at me as if unsure what to say. But I was too tired to start the conversation.My every movement felt heavy with exhaustion.

At the hospital, a doctor quickly came to see us; I recognized her as Dr. Jenna Anderson, a distant family friend of Louis, but someone whom I had enjoyed when I met her at the wedding.

“Hey guys, how are you? I saw you on the list and knew I had to come over and check on you, Emily,” she said with a genuine smile.

Louis nodded in greeting but seemed anxious to get me looked at. “Thanks, Dr. Anderson. Emily fainted on top of a shattered bowl of soup. Of course, we want the cuts checked out, but I’m more worried about the fainting.”

Jenna looked knowingly at me as if saying, “What would we do without worrywart husbands?” I didn’t react back, and her smile faltered. Then she turned to Louis and said, “And you should be more worried about the fainting, but I wouldn’t get too worked up about it yet. Any number of factors can cause fainting.” She pulled on some gloves. “Let me clean up these cuts and see if any need stitches. And I’ll ask Emily some questions to get a sense of what may have happened.”

As she cleaned me up, I answered Dr. Anderson’s questions as best I could while still feeling emotionally out of it. However, it did help me realize there were previous symptoms I had been ignoring—occasional nausea, dizziness, hot flashes.

I noticed something spark in Jenna’s eyes as it all came together. “What?” I asked. “What do you think it is?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I want to run some tests, though. And I want to keep you overnight for observation anyway, just in case.”

Louis nodded urgently, obviously happy that I would receive more medical care. For all his flaws, he had always been mindful of my physical well-being.

I agreed a little more reluctantly. Still, I ended up in an ugly hospital gown on an uncomfortable hospital bed. Louis sat beside me, his dress shirt and pants wrinkled and a bit stained now. He looked as put together as I felt—meaning not at all.

Suddenly, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I broke through my numbness and asked, “Louis, have you ever cheated on me?”

His eyes widened in shock, but without missing a beat, he shook his head and said firmly, “No, Emily. I’ve never cheated on you.”

I searched his face for any signs of a lie, but his expression was steady and sincere. Still, something didn’t sit right with me.

Was he really telling the truth? Or was he a better liar than I thought?