LOGINEVE'S POV I lay in the guest bedroom staring at the ceiling, listening to Damon moving around in the master bedroom. The penthouse was quiet except for the fridge humming and the faint city noise outside. Inside my head, though? Total chaos. I’d just told him we were separated. I watched his face as he tried to wrap his head around it...his pregnant wife sleeping in the guest room, us under the same roof but not really together. I’d lied. Not completely. We had been separated. That part was true. But I left out the divorce, Sophia, the stairs, everything that actually mattered. The doctor said big stress could mess up his recovery, and I was too scared to drop the whole truth on him right now anyway. My phone buzzed. Jessica. Jessica: How are you? Settled in? Me: Yeah. We’re both home. Both resting. Jessica: And? How’s it going? Me: Weird as hell. He knows we were separated but not about the divorce. Jessica: Did you tell him anything else? Me: No. Just that we had problems
DAMONThey discharged me on Friday afternoon.14 days after waking up from the coma.Days after finding out I was going to be a father.Dr. Patel went through the discharge instructions one more time while a nurse helped me get dressed in clothes Marcus had brought from the penthouse.“No strenuous activity for at least six weeks. No driving until I clear you. Someone needs to be with you at all times for the first two weeks in case of complications.”“Eve will be there,” I said.“Mrs. Sterling is also on strict bed rest. She’s not in a position to be your primary caregiver. You’ll need additional help.”“We’ll figure it out.”Dr. Patel looked like he wanted to argue but just sighed. “Fine. But I want you both back here next week for follow-up appointments. And if you experience any dizziness, confusion, severe headaches, or memory issues, you call immediately.”“Got it.”Marcus appeared in the doorway. “The car’s downstairs. Driver’s waiting.”“Is Eve...”“She’s already down there.
EVEI woke up alone in the hospital room with sunlight coming through the windows.For a second I forgot where I was. Then everything came back at once.Fainting in Damon’s room, the doctors talking about the baby, Damon finding out. The look on his face when they told him.Pure joy.Like the baby fixed every problem we had, like we were still the couple we used to be.I put my hand on my stomach. The bump was obvious now. Halfway. And Damon knew. He knew and he was thrilled. He thought we would raise this baby together. Thought we would be a family again.Because he didn’t remember any of the bad stuff.He didn’t remember the fights, the mistrust, the way everything between us had fallen apart before the accident. He only remembered the good times. The version of us when things were simple.The door opened. A nurse came in with a breakfast tray.“Good morning, Mrs. Sterling. How are you feeling?”“Tired. Confused. Scared.”She gave me a kind smile. “That’s normal after everything yo
“She's stable,” Dr. Patel said quickly. “She’s resting in the next room. We ran some quick tests...blood work, ultrasound. She’s going to be fine, Mr. Sterling. But there’s something you need to know.” Dr. Ramirez stepped forward. She had kind eyes and a calm voice that somehow made the room feel less like it was spinning. “Your wife is in her second trimester. About twenty weeks along. The dizziness and fainting episode were caused by a combination of low blood pressure, dehydration, and elevated stress levels. The pregnancy is viable and progressing normally, but stress is not good for either of them right now. We’ve given her fluids and something mild to help with the nausea she’s been hiding. She needs rest. Minimal emotional strain. Bed rest for the next forty-eight hours at least, and then very limited activity.” The words hit me like a second car accident...only this one didn’t hurt. It lit me up from the inside out. Pregnant. Eve was pregnant. Twenty weeks. Second trimes
DAMON The hospital room was starting to feel less like a cage and more like a strange kind of home. Six days in now, and the machines had become background noise instead of a constant alarm in my skull. The headache was still there, a low throb behind my eyes, but the fragments of memory weren’t quite as jagged. I could hold onto the good ones longer: Eve’s laugh in the kitchen at the penthouse, her fingers tracing lazy circles on my chest during lazy Sunday mornings, the way she’d looked at me when I slipped the ring on her finger in the park. The darker pieces...arguments I couldn’t quite place, my mother’s tight mouth whenever Eve’s name came up, Marcus warning me about something I couldn’t remember still floated just out of reach. I didn’t push them. Not today. Today I was winning at small victories, and that felt like enough.I was sitting up in bed, the adjustable frame cranked high enough that I could almost pretend I wasn’t wearing a hospital gown. Eve had brought me another
DAMONMorning light filtered through the blinds, softer than the harsh fluorescents that had greeted me yesterday. My head still throbbed, but the edge was duller, like someone had turned down the volume on the jackhammer inside my skull. I blinked at the ceiling, testing the fragments again. Eve laughing in the kitchen. The weight of her hand in mine during our first anniversary weekend upstate. Marcus sliding a contract across the conference table like it was a poker chip. They felt real. Solid. The rest stayed blurry, but for the first time since waking up, that didn’t feel quite so terrifying.A nurse I hadn’t met yet bustled in, chart in hand. “Morning, Mr. Sterling. Sleep any?”“On and off. These machines are louder than my old college roommate.”She grinned. “We’ll get you a quieter room tomorrow if Dr. Patel clears it. Vitals look good. Swelling’s down another notch. Think you’re up for real breakfast instead of the IV smoothie?”“God, yes.”“Pancakes and eggs incoming. Doctor
Three days.It had been three days of this new arrangement and I was losing my mind.Not in a bad way. In a "I can't stop thinking about him" way. In a "every time he looks at me I remember exactly what he looks like naked" way.We'd fallen into this routine. Work during the day. Pretend to be norm
The words came out before I could stop them.Everyone stopped eating and looked at me."I just mean..." I could feel my face getting hot again. "She's not here. Maybe we could talk about something else."My mother's smile went tight and thin. "Of course, darling. We're just making conversation.""I
Saturday morning I woke up to the smell of bacon. Which was weird because I didn't cook bacon. Didn't really cook anything beyond cereal and toast, honestly. I stumbled out of bed in my pajamas—ratty t-shirt and shorts that had seen better days—and followed the smell to the kitchen. Damon was at
Wednesday arrived and I wanted to die.Okay, not actually die. But maybe get hit by a car. Nothing fatal. Just enough to land me in the hospital for a few days so I could miss this dinner.My parents were coming at seven. Damon's parents were coming at seven. All of them. Together. In the penthous







