How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Jarrod's gaze was utterly indifferent. He could see how exhausted and sickly she looked, but there wasn't the slightest bit of concern in his eyes.

They'd been married for three years, sharing the same house, the same routines, day in and day out.

Even a pair of stray cats or dogs, thrown together for three years, would have developed more of a bond than this.

But for Jarrod, the only thing that ever seemed to matter was Sylvie.

Whether Elodie lived or died didn't seem to make any difference to him. Elodie's eyes flickered, landing for a moment on Sylvie's stomach.

She quickly pulled away from Ivan's hand as he tried to ruffle her hair.

Ivan had spotted Jarrod and his group. Glancing at Elodie, he greeted them, "Mr. Silverstein, not feeling well today?"

Jarrod nodded with his usual poise, "I brought Sylvie in for a checkup."

Ivan, remembering some gossip he'd just overheard, raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Good news, then? I heard it was a prenatal appointment?"

Sylvie arched a brow, exchanging a glance with Jarrod before giving a small, knowing smile.

Jarrod's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Careful what you say, Mr. Harcourt. Rumors like that aren't good for Sylvie."

Elodie sat quietly, staring at the back of her own swollen hand, puffy from IV fluids.

Jarrod had grown up with a classic British elite education-elegant, polished, always the perfect gentleman. Even if he was cold at heart, on the surface he never slipped up. It was all for show, never for anyone's sake but his own.

Except, of course, when it came to Sylvie.

her, he was careful, attentive-he wouldn't tolerate the slightest mistake. "Oh, so it's just a misunderstanding," Ivan said, realization

a little. I wanted the doctor to have a look at it," Jarrod replied, his

Elodie looked at Sylvie's hand. It was slender, pale,

was barely a scratch, yet Jarrod had made a big show of bringing her in

had fainted right in

did the

love you, even if you hang yourself, they'll think

gave Ivan a graceful nod. "I'll go

hadn't said a word to Elodie, and though her expression remained gentle throughout, there was a quiet

had no desire to linger awkwardly with Jarrod and Ivan either. She stood up,

finally gave her a passing

thinner than

jacket she was wearing hung loosely on her frame, making her

conversation the way she used to her voice gentle, always

she'd seemed so

her

in Ms. Fielding these days that I have to

no longer an employee of the Silverstein Group. Didn't she tell

looked genuinely surprised and

everything, big or small. He supposed she just hadn't had the

bed, Elodie searched for

a bottle of warm water.

more than happy to leave the hospital; she had a hunch she'd be seeing a lot more of this place in the future,

I appreciate

her up and down, then gave a short laugh. "Let's