I Lost My Baby, He Became Her Hero Chapter 02

I Lost My Baby, He Became Her Hero Chapter 02

They’d traveled to Iceland to see the northern lights and to Africa to watch the great migration.

Sometimes they stayed under the covers and watched movies all day.

Adrian had always been a workaholic.

He’d even left me to work on our wedding day.

Now he’d taken a full year off to stay with Vanessa through her pregnancy.

As the images on my screen blurred, that familiar suffocating pressure crashed over me, and I wandered into the street in a daze.

My foot caught on something, brakes screamed, and before I could react, the impact threw me onto the pavement.

My vision slowly faded.

I didn’t know how much time passed before I woke in a hospital room.

Adrian stood beside the bed.

He was still wearing the dark gray coat I’d bought him last year.

For a moment, I thought I was dreaming and stared at him without blinking, until he asked, “Did you do this on purpose?”

I froze.

His gaze was cold. “You knew everyone was celebrating Millie today. Yet you had to get yourself hurt.”

He hadn’t asked if I was in pain or what happened.

Slowly, I turned toward the doorway.

The hallway was crowded with my mother and many of our closest friends. Every one of them had come, but not for me.

They were attending a reception celebrating the birth of Vanessa’s daughter.

On the day my divorce became final, the darkest day of my life, everyone I loved had dressed up to celebrate someone else’s happiness.

I opened my mouth, but my throat was too raw to speak.

My former mother-in-law, Eleanor Cole, called from the doorway.

“Adrian, Vanessa needs you. Go take care of her. We’ll stay here.”

Adrian paused at the door. “Rest and recover. Don’t do anything like this again.”

“Adrian, wait.”

He didn’t slow down or look back.

I pushed myself upright and tumbled from the bed.

My knees struck the tile, reopening my wounds.

My mom rushed in and grabbed my arm. “You’re already divorced. Can’t you stop causing trouble?”

She dragged me toward the bed.

Her hurried movements hurt, but she didn’t stop.

“Vanessa hasn’t had it easy either. She’s spent years walking on eggshells around you. She couldn’t even look you in the eye. She had to hide every post from you.”

My mom frowned and pulled the blanket over my legs. “The divorce is final. Let the past stay in the past.”

I looked at her familiar face and suddenly felt as if I didn’t know her at all. “Mom, when did you find out about them?”

She said nothing, lowering her head as she rubbed the bracelet around her wrist.

Vanessa had given it to her.

For my mom’s birthday last year, I’d climbed three thousand steps to St. Agnes Hill Chapel.

I’d asked a priest to bless a silver pendant for her.

She never even looked at it.

She said she didn’t believe in things like that.

Yet Vanessa’s cheap roadside bracelet had become her treasure.

Exhaustion settled over me.

I turned away. “Mom, please leave. I want to sleep.”

She didn’t hesitate.

After smoothing the collar of her cocktail dress, she left with a smile.

She was going back to Vanessa’s newborn reception.

A little later, I followed her out, and thirty minutes later, I came face-to-face with Vanessa in the ballroom, the baby in her arms.

“Natalie… why are you here?”

She stepped back and pulled the child closer.

I watched her. “You really don’t want to see me, do you?”

Vanessa lowered her head. “Natalie, I know I hurt you. But you can’t force love.”

“Adrian loves me. If we’re being honest, you were the one standing between us for seven years.”

I stared at her, my hands turning cold and numb as every question lodged in my throat, none of them making it out.

Vanessa raised her head.

Her eyes were red, but there wasn’t a trace of guilt in them.

The baby suddenly began to wail.

Vanessa rocked her quickly. “Don’t cry, Millie. Mommy’s here.”

Before I could react, someone yanked my shoulder.

I stumbled sideways.