Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN HE CHOSE
The first time Alex saw me in the hospital, he asked, "What happened to your head?"
No hello. No Are you okay? Just a stare at the bandage above my eyebrow, already spotting pink at the edge.
A nurse was helping me into a wheelchair after another scan. I'd been allowed to sit up, but every time I turned too quickly, the corridor tipped.
Alex stood beside the lobby elevators, his suit jacket over his arm. He'd been waiting for Victoria while doctors checked her supposed stomach pain. I could tell by the way he kept glancing at the double doors.
"Erin?" He moved closer. "Why didn't you call me?"
The nurse glanced at me.
"I did," I said. "So did my assistant."
"I had a situation."
"I know."
He reached toward my shoulder and stopped when I flinched. There was a dark red line on his cuff. I wondered whether it was my blood.
"Was it the fall?" he asked, quieter.
I looked at him. "Which fall?"
For one second he looked frightened. Then Victoria appeared in the doorway behind him, one hand pressed to her stomach.
"Alex!" she cried. "I can't—oh God, it hurts again."
He turned so fast his jacket slid from his arm.
"Somebody get a doctor!" he shouted.
The nurse beside me moved toward Victoria, but Victoria waved her off and clung to Alex. "Just him. I need him."
"Vic, look at me. I've got you."
He slipped an arm around her waist. She leaned into him and let out a shaky breath, too perfectly timed for my comfort. I hated that I noticed. I hated more that I still wanted him to notice me.
"Alex," I said.
He looked over his shoulder. "I'll be right back. Wait here."
I watched him lead her through the doors.
The nurse crouched to meet my eyes. "Do you have someone who can take you upstairs?"
"Yeah," I said. "I do."
I didn't say the name of the man who had just left.
Laura arrived twenty minutes later carrying my phone charger, a clean sweater, and a bag of pretzels. She looked at my face and went very still.
"How bad?" she asked.
"The baby still has a heartbeat. The doctor wants more monitoring."
Laura nodded, then put the pretzels in the wrong drawer, opened it again, and took them out. For the first time that day, I wasn't the only person whose hands didn't work properly.
"I made a police report," I said.
"Good. You can update it when you're ready."
"They're going to think I fell by myself."
"Then we'll ask for the camera footage before it gets deleted."
A knock came at the door. I expected my nurse.
Victoria stepped inside wearing the same cream dress I'd seen through the suite door. She'd added a bright red coat that she didn't bother taking off. She held an ultrasound photograph in one hand and a heavy envelope in the other.
"I only need a minute," she said.
Laura stood up. "No, you don't."
"I'm not here to fight." Victoria glanced at the monitor beside my bed. "I heard she had a little accident."
"Leave," I said.
She put the envelope on the blanket anyway.
May you like
My name was written across the front in sharp black ink. Except it wasn't my name.
It said: THE BRIDE — VICTORIA VALE.
