Chapter 3

It took a while for Zach to pick up. "Rose."

His voice was rough, lazy with sleep, like he'd just woken up.

"Why didn't you come home last night?"

"I was working until dawn. It was too late, and I didn't want to wake you, so I crashed on the couch in my office."

"Really?"

"You don't trust me?"

"It's not that. I was just worried something happened at the company and you were hiding it from me."

"That's all handled now. Don't worry about it."

"Good. From now on, whatever happens, I want you to tell me. We're married. We're supposed to handle things together."

"Okay."

Rose hung up, got dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Todd drove her to work afterward, same as always.

At noon, a colleague on shift for the online consultations came down with a stomachache and asked Rose to cover for her.

She logged into her own account.

Rules were rules, whoever took a case owned it, so she couldn't just switch back. She'd barely logged in when the same anonymous client from the day before messaged her again.

Patient: [Doctor, he stayed with me and the baby all night last night. His wife had to sleep alone. Doesn't that prove I mean more to him than she does?]

Distasteful as the message was, Rose reminded herself this was a patient, and she couldn't lash out. She had to redirect.

Rose: [You clearly care about him. But he's approaching you while he's still married. Do you really think you can have a whole, equal relationship with him under those terms?]

Rose: [This whole relationship was built on hiding and lying from the start. Do you honestly believe that's something that can last?]

The reply came fast.

Patient: [He told me he's going to take responsibility for me and our child. I believe him.]

Patient: [He just needs time to sort out that marriage. I can wait, because I know he loves me.]

Rose shook her head and typed back.

Rose: [If he really were a responsible man, would he be cheating on his marriage in the first place?]

As for love...

Rose: [Real love means respect. It means being able to stand in the light together. A relationship you have to hide is corrosive by nature. You can't ever make it public, so you live in anxiety, suspicion, waiting. Over time, it eats away at your emotions, your life, and your reputation.]

There was a pause before the next message came through, one that irritated Rose more than the rest combined.

Patient: [Doctor, you said before that people shouldn't cling to a relationship with no real feeling left in it. Hypothetically, if you were his wife, you'd get a divorce, right?]

This woman. Not only had she missed the point entirely, she was twisting Rose's words to build some kind of case against her. Asking, over and over, whether Rose would divorce.

Rose wanted, badly, to type back: My husband and I are happy. We are never getting divorced.

But the woman was a patient. She couldn't say that.

She exhaled and typed instead: [I know exactly where my own line is. A relationship that's crossed it isn't worth clinging to.]

Patient: [You're absolutely right. The wife should just be smart enough to step aside on her own.]

Rose stared at the screen. Who did this woman think she was, saying something that twisted?

Thankfully, the client logged off right after that, before Rose's professional restraint gave out and she lectured the woman on basic decency.

After work, Rose packed up some food from home and headed to Calizzy General Hospital to have dinner with Kimberly.

"Oh, right." Kimberly perked up over her meal, remembering something. "I heard Scarlett's kid isn't doing well. He's been in the hospital since they got back."

Rose asked, offhand, "What's wrong with the baby?"

"Not sure of the details. I just found out today. I overheard some gossip when I stopped by Peyton Group's legal department for something. Apparently, the company's about to start working with the McQueens again, and now the office is buzzing about your husband and Scarlett's history."

Rose's brow furrowed. "Peyton Group is going to work with the McQueens?"

"Zach didn't mention this to you?"

Rose shook her head. "No."

"I figured he would have run it by you first."

"He doesn't usually loop me in on work stuff."

"This is different. This involves Scarlett. He shouldn't be keeping something like that from you."

Rose pressed her lips together and didn't answer.

Kimberly noticed her flat mood and swallowed back the rest of the outrage building in her chest. "Talk to him about it when you get the chance. There might be a reasonable explanation. Communication matters in a marriage."

Rose nodded. "Okay."

She went home afterward in a subdued mood, probably, she told herself, just pregnancy hormones making her overthink things.

Her mind kept circling back to why Zach hadn't told her about the deal with the McQueens.

And if the partnership was already in the works, that meant he must have known Scarlett was back in the country. So why had he never once mentioned it to her?

Was she not the person he trusted most, or... did he have something to hide?

That night, Zach didn't get home until after eleven. He came into the bedroom and found her still awake, reading. He crossed over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Didn't I tell you not to wait up?"

Rose set her book down beside her. "I need to ask you something."

Zach settled into his usual routine, both hands going to her swollen calves, kneading gently. "Go ahead."

The relief in her legs helped settle some of the turmoil in her chest. "Is Peyton Group about to start working with the McQueens?"

His hands stilled for a moment. "Kimberly told you?"

"Mm-hm."

"That mouth of hers. You're this close to your due date, and she's still stressing you out."

A note of complaint colored his voice. "It's not finalized yet. I was planning to wait until after you'd had the baby and talk it over with you before making any decision."

So it wasn't settled after all.

He hadn't been trying to hide it from her. He'd just been worried about her health, wanting to wait until after the birth to bring it up.

She'd nearly misjudged him.

Zach looked at her, his expression serious.

"If you're against it, even if the board pushes back on me, I won't do business with the McQueens. Your peace of mind matters more to me than anything else."

A year ago, he'd cut all ties with the McQueens for her sake, and the company had taken a massive financial hit for it, with shareholders furious. He'd shut them down through sheer force of will.

Over the past year, those same shareholders had kept pushing to restore the partnership, and it had been a constant headache for him.

If he'd simply agreed to it outright, she might have felt uneasy. But the truth was he'd been holding the line against it this whole time.

Rose wasn't the type to accept kindness without giving something back, and she would repay it tenfold if she could.

He'd already done so much for her. How could she be the one holding him back now, out of pure selfishness?

Besides…

"It's a partnership that benefits both sides, so why turn down money? Our baby's coming soon, and there are going to be a lot more expenses."

"Look at you, thinking bigger than I am. I was the narrow-minded one." Something seemed to occur to Zach then. "By the way, Seth mentioned his sister's back in the country."