He Saved Her, I Lost Our Child

line

iseptic and expensive lilies-the

of my cashmere cardigan. The burn was superficial, or so the doctors

performance. The dutiful wife bringing sustenance to her hardworking hu

erved for "Friends of the Famil

just knocked, announced my presence, an

te dress shirt was stained with soot and sweat, the sleeves rolled up to reveal

njured. She looked radiant in that tragic, Victorian way she

held a

s expression soft, focused. He

urmured. "You ne

g, her eyes fixed on his face with a loo

voice raspy. "I thought I was going to die

was a physical blow. "I became a surgeon so I would never have to s

fr

val gang had jumped Ariana. Blake, then just a reckless heir, ha

to save the Family's soldiers. H

done it

medical miracle he performed... it wa

as fighting a ten-year-old

hermos in my hand. It

d the d

oftness vanished instantly, re

said. "What are

d set the thermos on the bedside table, right next to a vase of

hing. "Oh, Caroline. Thank you. Blake was just

a perfectly

" Blake said, glancing a

keeping my face impas

ck to Ariana. "Look, I need to stay here

. "I came to tell you something else. I'm

lfway to the bowl. "What? Why? You

it anymore," I said.

sk why I was giving up the one public ro

t. Ariana needs something to focus on while the

left m

trembling slightly. "It requires architectural oversig

is voice hard. "She understands trauma

oking for all the world like a queen

ke," she cooed.

ion. He handed my life to her, pi

he soup,

me. I went to my car, pulled out the le

. He gave her my s

Score

halfway