How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

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It felt as if he'd been gutted, left with nothing but an empty shell.

A long, heavy silence settled between them.

Lucinda was the first to break it. "Can we talk?"

Jarrod's eyes were icy. "Go ahead."

Lucinda led him to a quiet alcove, then looked up at him. "Your grandmother's worried sick-she's been calling, but you didn't pick up. I managed to calm her down and keep her from coming over to make a scene."

After all, it was supposed to be a birthday celebration.

Not that it hadn't already descended into chaos.

"How's Elodie doing now?" Lucinda glanced toward the patient rooms, her expression conflicted.

She'd never really approved of Elodie before, but she'd never imagined someone so young would fall seriously ill.

The pain's under control for now." Jarrod pinched the

"What exactly is the diagnosis? Uterine cancer? How

need surgery. The prognosis is

left her lips before she could stop herself. "Will this affect her ability

to look at

a faint,

about his tone

do you really think it's practical to never have children? And especially not by choice-because you're forced into it. You're at the helm of the Silverstein Group, with the second branch of the family circling like vultures. If you don't have an heir, it's a problem, isn't

few people would

the more so for a family

being pragmatic-pointing out a

accept Jarrod throwing everything away for

life as the lady of the house will suffer, I can offer you a solution," Jarrod said, his voice cold and flat. "You can leave the Silverstein family

flushed at the

think love is everything, that you're willing to give up anything for her, and maybe that's true-for a while. But ten years from now, twenty years from now, you'll change. You'll start to resent her and regret the choices you made today. That's human nature. Love only lasts

regret

of stability, comfort, and security. Without that,