Noah sat beside me.
His knee bounced uncontrollably.
“She’s going to be okay,” I whispered.
I was speaking more to myself than to him.
“Gracie is strong.”
Noah covered his face with both hands.
A sound escaped him somewhere between a sob and a prayer.
Then a doctor appeared.
Noah stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
The doctor’s expression told us something was wrong before he spoke.
“Grace has lost a dangerous amount of blood.”
My legs weakened.
“The babies are stable, but she remains in critical condition.”
Babies & Toddlers
I grabbed the back of a chair.
“We are doing everything possible,” the doctor continued. “But you should prepare yourselves for every outcome.”
Then he disappeared through the doors again.
Noah remained standing.
His body swayed slightly.
I placed one hand against his back.
My oldest friend.
My brother in every way that mattered.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Gracie chose you because you make her feel safe.”
His eyes filled.
“You need to hold onto that.”
“My promise,” he whispered.
“What promise?”
Something shifted in his expression.
There was fear.
But also guilt.
“I need to tell you something.”
“We are talking.”
“Not here.”
“Tell Amelia Everything”
Noah led me down the corridor to an empty alcove beside the stairwell.
The maternity ward became distant behind us.
He leaned against the wall.
“Before they took Gracie into surgery, she made me promise something.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘If I don’t wake up, tell Amelia everything.’”
Cold spread through me.
“Everything about what?”
Noah reached inside his jacket.
His fingers were trembling.
“It is time you understood why I really married your sister.”
Marriage
I grabbed the railing.
“Do not say that.”
“Amelia—”
“Do not destroy four years of watching her smile because of you.”
“You think I want this conversation while my wife is fighting for her life?”
“Then why are we having it?”
“Because Gracie asked me to.”
Every cruel suspicion I had buried returned at once.
Family
He married her for money.
He married her to remain close to me.
He made some arrangement with my parents.
Noah removed a folded document.
“It is worse than you imagine.”
He held it toward me.
“You should sit down.”
The Contract
I took the document.
The first thing I noticed was the letterhead.
Whitmore & Cole Legal Group
My father’s law firm.
