How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Jarrod really did change rooms. Now, so early in the morning, he and Sylvie were coming and going together. There was no doubt they'd spent the whole night in the same room.

Elodie suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

She turned away from the two of them, slipped back into her room, and rushed to the bathroom, trying to throw up—anything, just to get rid of that nauseous feeling.

But nothing came up.

Her appetite had been terrible lately. Maybe things were even worse for her than she'd realized.

Elodie stared at her pale, hollow-eyed reflection in the mirror, a chill crawling up her spine.

People are so fragile, she thought.

At least she could be grateful she'd woken up before things became truly irreversible.

She still had time to become herself again.

With a determined breath, Elodie touched up her makeup, determined not to look so worn out.

She asked the innkeeper to arrange a car to take her back down the mountain. Just then, her grandmother called.

With Elodie's grandfather gone early, Rosemary had poured all her energy

passed away, Rosemary grew even more quiet-except when it came to worrying about

cleared her throat before answering, making sure her voice betrayed

breakfast?" Rosemary asked, her tone gentle for

bloom in her chest. "I'm eating

and these will keep you warm. When can you come by to pick them up? Maybe stay for dinner-I'll make your favorite sweet

"Grandma, you really don't

you, married into a family like his. There's not much I can do to help, so I do what I can. Be good to Jarrod, all right? If he has any conscience, he'll treat you well too,

burned. She wiped the corner of her eyes

missing a beat. "Can you

seen

and finally agreed, "Alright. I'll try my

to talk to her grandmother about the

grandmother, even the biggest problems had to have a

had cheated. It would only upset her and take a toll on her health. Better to find a gentler explanation, to say they just weren't

was something Jarrod needed to

Elodie left her room and

it