Chapter 0002

Caroline's POV:

I awoke once again in a hospital bed, feeling an agonizing pain in my stomach. Instinctively, I brought a hand to my stomach, only to be horrified when I realized that there’s no longer a bump.

Screaming, I sit up with tears in my eyes. “Where’s my baby?” I gasp as nurses crowded around me, trying to calm me down. “What happened to my baby?”

The head doctor came up beside me, clipboard in hand. I prayed that he would tell me that my little boy had survived whatever had happened, but the sorrowful look on the doctor’s face had my heart plummeting.

“Caroline,” he murmured in a comforting voice, “You went into forced labor when you fell into the lake. We tried to save your son but… he didn’t make it. I’m so very sorry.”

I was overcome with grief and let out a devastated sob. I was inconsolable, my entire frame shaking as I cried into my hands. I couldn’t believe that my baby was dead. The precious bundle of joy I had loved for six months was gone.

I feel so alone. All I want is my husband beside me to hold my hand and tell me that everything is alright. I just wanted someone there to love me, but instead I was surrounded by the pitying gazes of the hospital staff.

“Where’s William?” I asked, hot tears rolling down my cheek. I didn’t care if he cheated on me. All I wanted was for him to hug me and tell me that he loved me. “Please, just tell me where he is!”

The doctor hesitated. “Caroline, I don’t think that’s a good—”

He stopped once he saw my tear-stricken face. “Please,” I begged him, shaking with sobs. “You don’t understand. I just want to see him.

One of the nurses spoke up, her voice quivering with emotion. “He’s in room 304,” she said softly. “But I really don’t think you want to go there right now.”

The doctor nodded in agreement. “Caroline, there’s something else we need to tell you.”

I didn’t care to hear it. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything worse than losing my baby.

I exited the bed and stormed out despite the protests of the nurses. In tears, I found the room the nurse had said William was in. Just as I was about to enter, I heard one of the nurses saying something nearby.

“Yeah, she went into premature labor just after she fell into the water,” the young nurse told her colleague. “We were able to save the baby just in time. The parents are very happy.”

“I heard what happened to that other woman,” the other nurse replied. “It’s so unfortunate. I heard her husband didn’t come to check on her even once.”

Unable to believe what I was hearing, I threw open the door to see Sophia holding a bundle in her arms. Beside her was William, smiling down at the baby before he noticed me with surprise. “Caroline?” he gasped, looking both startled and even angry that I interrupted this special moment with his “family”.

Before he can even say anything else, I’m in tears again. I hated how much they looked like a real family together right then, all the while my little boy had just died and I had no one there for me. How could William just leave his own wife and unborn child so cruelly? I could barely even stand to look at him.

“How could you?” I screamed, utterly devastated. “How could you do this to our family? Our baby is dead and you’re with your mistress instead of your wife?”

William was overcome with shock. “Dead?” he whispered, finally noticing my flattened belly for the first time. “He died?”

I choked out a sob. “Of course you don’t know!” I cried. “You couldn’t even be bothered to visit me! All you care about is her! You love her more than you ever loved us!”

I gave Sophia an angered look. As much as I wanted to hate her, I was more devastated by how my own husband had betrayed me. “You know what?” I scoffed. “You can have him!”

The man who had hurt me so horribly tried to approach me, as if he somehow cared. “Caroline, I—”

“I can’t believe I loved you!” I yelled, storming out of the room. I needed to get away from both of them. Just looking at them made me sick to my stomach. All I wanted to do was go home and grieve the loss of my baby boy.

I was barely out of Sophia’s ward before I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I put a hand on my belly, before a torrent of blood spilled from my mouth. I knew instantly that it wasn’t from my miscarriage, and before I knew it, I had fallen to the floor.

Doctors rushed over to me in a panic. I cried out in pain as I was brought to a gurney. I was barely able to make out what anyone was saying. In the cacophony, I heard the words “terminal”.

My eyes widened. I strained to listen carefully, praying that it wasn’t true.

One of the doctors was talking to the nurses, frantic.

“She had stomach cancer. It’s spread too much to be removed.”

I choked out a sob, wishing that this was all some sort of nightmare. Reaching out, I grasped his hand, and he looked at me in surprise. Although I couldn’t say anything, the pleading in my eyes was enough to get him to understand.

The doctor lowered his head. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “If the cancer gets any worse, you’re going to die within six months.”