Chapter 7

Zeke was on the verge of leaving when Sophie's sobs broke the silence.

"Are you really going? I don't want to be alone. Please, stay with me. I just had the baby, and my whole body aches."

"Alright, I'll stay." He wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "You just had a baby. You shouldn't cry."

"Okay, I won't if you stay with me."

Relief washed over Zeke when Sophie finally settled down, yet Lily's face flashed vividly in his mind.

"Zeke, please, save our child…"

Her desperate pleas haunted his ears like a lingering echo, tightening the knot in his chest. She'd seemed injured then, and he had no idea how she was doing now.

Footsteps echoed outside the door, and Zeke caught fragments of nurses' voices.

"Aren't you off yet? The night shift ended some time ago. Why haven't you gone home?"

"I'm tied up. A pregnant woman was brought in last night. She was bleeding heavily and struggling through obstructed labor. Dr. Lambert has been fighting nonstop to save her."

"How far along was she? What is her current condition?"

"She was eight months pregnant. Her condition remains critical, and the surgery is still underway."

The nurse sighed before continuing, "That poor woman arrived at midnight, bloodied and ghostly pale, without her husband by her side."

The conversation sent a tremor through Zeke. The words "eight months pregnant", "bleeding heavily", and "complicated labor" echoed in his mind. His thoughts turned immediately to Lily.

Could the woman they were talking about be her?

He told himself it was impossible, that it couldn't be. Yet panic was already tightening its hold. He rose to his feet, determined to seek out someone who could offer him clear answers.

"I need to use the bathroom, Zeke. Can you help me?" Sophie asked.

She caught the nurses talking. There was no way she could have missed it. If that woman were really Lily, then everything would fall into place perfectly.

If Lily and her baby were gone, Sophie and her child could stay with the Connollys openly, as their lady and heir. A sharp gleam sparked in her eyes, only to vanish just as quickly.

"Alright," Zeke said.

For reasons he couldn't explain, a sudden fear gripped him. He couldn't bring himself to face the truth. The idea that Lily and their child might be gone was unbearable.

…

After a long and desperate battle in the operating room, the baby within Lily's womb failed to survive. She had arrived at the hospital with her water already broken.

Her body was weak from the start, and despite all her attempts, she was unable to deliver. She fainted again and again.

Surgery was performed to remove the baby, but it had been deprived of oxygen for too long. The doctors tried every possible means to save the baby, yet in the end, they were powerless.

Wayne Lambert looked down at Lily, who was unconscious on the operating table, and shook his head. Pain was etched across his face.

"We have to let it go. There's nothing left we can do."

"The baby was eight months along, and it's gone. She'll be broken when she wakes."

Wayne sighed as he stitched up her wounds. "And where in God's name is her husband? Leaving a woman that far along, alone at home in the dead of night? It's unforgivable."

…

Lily woke up to her body shaking uncontrollably. The anesthesia was still coursing through her veins. Around her stretched an endless expanse of white, while the sharp sting of disinfectant hung thick in the air.

Slowly, the truth settled. She had been brought to the hospital, after all.

"My child?"

Her hand instinctively moved toward her belly, but it met only emptiness. Tears welled fiercely in her eyes.

She clenched her jaw, trying to push herself upright from the bed, but the searing pain pinned her motionless.

"Mrs. Connolly, you're awake."

Rhonda entered swiftly, having just attempted to contact Zeke.

Wayne had asked if the hospital should take care of the baby's body or if the Connollys wanted to handle it themselves. Rhonda wasn't sure what to decide and kept trying to reach Zeke.

When she finally got through, the call was cut short. She tried once more, but his phone was already switched off.