Audrey's POV
Thank God Simon dragged Jeremy away. I didn't have the strength—emotionally or physically—to deal with him. Seeing him again had ripped something open inside me, something I'd been trying so hard to keep stitched together. Maybe I'd directed all my anger at him, but I couldn't help it. I needed somewhere to pour it, something to blame.
Now that the room was quiet again, it was just me… and the truth. The silence of it pressed heavily against my chest. I turned my face toward the window, my hand instinctively resting on my stomach. The doctor said the fibroid and the baby were both removed without further harm, as though "no harm" could even exist in the same sentence as "you lost your child."
I hadn't even had time to understand what being a mother meant. I'd been so terrified—of the pregnancy, of the future, of everything that tied me to Jeremy. I told myself I wasn't ready, that maybe it was better this way. But now, in this hollow space inside me, I realized how much I'd already loved that little heartbeat I never got to meet.
The guilt was a living thing. It breathed with me, throbbed with every pulse. Grieving felt wrong somehow—like I didn't deserve to mourn a life I'd once wished away. So I whispered an apology into the emptiness.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."
In a few days, my divorce would be finalized. I'd no longer be Mrs. Gillian. I'd finally be Audrey again—Audrey Shepherd Anderson—the woman who could stand on her own, without anyone's name or shadow attached to hers.
However, the cost was too high. Freedom had come at the expense of my unborn child, and that truth settled deep inside me like a scar that would never fade.
I closed my eyes and let the tears come quietly, wishing I could turn back time, wishing I could have both my peace and my baby. But life, it seemed, was never that kind.
---
"Hey, sis!"
Eden's bright voice was the first thing I heard before she burst into my hospital room like a ray of sunshine that refused to dim—even here. She was holding a laptop, and before I could say a word, the screen lit up with two familiar faces.
"Isabella?" My voice cracked with surprise.
"Hi, baby sister," Isabella said, her soft smile instantly easing the heaviness in my chest. "We're coming home soon. Are you okay? We heard what happened."
Hearing her voice again after five years—the years she'd spent abroad with her husband, Leo—made my heart ache in the best way. She looked different now, poised and confident, not the timid little sister Andrew and I used to shield from everything.
"I'll be fine in a few days," I said, trying to sound convincing. "Don't worry, the unbreakable, stubborn Princess Audrey will be back before you know it."
That made Eden giggle. "Yeah, and with Mum's famous chicken soup, you'll recover faster than ever."
We all laughed, the sound light and genuine, the kind of laughter that felt like medicine. For a moment, it didn't feel like I was in a hospital bed—it felt like home.
Then the door opened, and in walked the last person I expected to see tonight—Andrew, my twin brother.
"Look who decided to grace us with his royal presence," I teased, wiping my eyes.
Andrew grinned, that same mischievous sparkle I'd missed lighting up his face. Without hesitation, he jumped onto my small hospital bed, nearly toppling Eden in the process.
"Move over, princess. This bed's big enough for three, right?" he joked.
"Barely," I laughed, shoving him playfully. "You're still as dramatic as ever."
Soon, Isabella and Leo joined in through the laptop screen as the four of us talked, teased, and caught up. Isabella asked Andrew the question we'd all been dying to ask.
"So, when are you getting married, Mr. Anderson?"
Eden and I burst into laughter before he could even answer.
"Married?" Eden said through giggles. "This one doesn't even have a girlfriend!"
"Oh really?" Isabella smirked at the screen. "And what about you, Eden? Any secret admirers?"
The room went quiet for a second. Eden bit her lip and blushed.
"Well… maybe," she said shyly.
"What?" Andrew and I said in unison.
Eden folded her arms, pretending to be unbothered. "Come on, I'm seventeen, not a baby."
"Exactly," I said, raising an eyebrow. "And with the Anderson family's terrible track record in love, you can wait till you're at least thirty."
Everyone burst out laughing again, even Eden. And for that little while, it didn't matter that I'd been broken, that I'd lost something precious. Surrounded by the people who knew me best, I remembered who I was—Audrey Shepherd Anderson, stubborn, loved, and unbreakable.