Chapter 24
Throughout the drive to the hospital, Olivia's freezing hands wouldn't stop shaking. She clasped them together on her lap in an effort to keep them still.
Clayton was quiet as he drove. His expression betrayed not a hint of emotion, which made it difficult for her to read his thoughts.
He must be so worried about Caroline, she thought, slowly caressing her still-flat belly.
Olivia had actually decided she would tell him about the baby after they got home. However, fate was against her, it ruined her plans.
It felt like an eternity before they finally reached their destination. Clayton parked the car, and Olivia clambered out before he could open the door for her. Together, they hurried inside, half walking, half running, until they reached Caroline’s room.
Mrs. Hilton stood just outside the door, Mr. Hilton beside her, his hand gently squeezing her shoulder in comfort. Her red-rimmed eyes, clear proof she’d been crying for some time, made Olivia’s heart ache with worry.
Taking quick, urgent strides, Olivia reached her mother and leaned in for a hug, but Mrs. Hilton didn’t seem to notice her at all, as if she were a specter. Instead, she hugged Clayton and sobbed in his arms.
“Why aren’t you inside the room?” Clayton asked, his gaze flicking between Mr. and Mrs. Hilton. “Is everything okay?”
“The nurse threw us out,” Mr. Hilton explained. “She said we were aggravating the patient.”
“Why?” Clayton asked. The shock was clear on his face. As it faded, irritation crept in. He looked ready to storm into the room and confront whoever was inside. “You're the patient's parents! Both of you should be by her side.”
Somehow, Mrs. Hilton found her voice. Her words came out shaky. “Caroline can’t remember us, Clayton. She doesn’t know who we are.”
Clayton looked horrified, words failing him entirely. The silence that followed spoke louder than anything he could have said.
Mrs. Hilton let out a shaky breath. “She looked at me like I was a stranger. I’ve waited so long to see her again, to hear her voice again, and when I finally did… she didn’t even know I was her mother.”
Olivia wanted to comfort her. She truly did.
But something inside her had gone numb. Her gaze drifted to Clayton, searching his face.
The panic in his eyes was unmistakable, loud even in his silence.
In the end, Olivia was the one who stepped forward to explain because this was a situation she understood all too well.
“Patients who’ve been in a coma often struggle to recognize people when they wake up,” Olivia said. “It’s completely normal, especially after a head injury. The memories usually return. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes a month. It all depends on the patient.”
The reassurance barely reached Clayton. His face remained a canvas of worry.
Olivia bit her lower lip. She wanted to tell him everything would be all right, that Caroline would regain her memories soon, but she was a doctor. She didn’t offer false hope, especially when she knew there was a chance Caroline might never recover her memories.
Mrs. Hilton finally looked at Olivia. In a voice trying hard not to shake, she asked, “Is there a chance that my daughter's memories won't return?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, my God.” Mrs. Hilton’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor like a mannequin. Mr. Hilton immediately helped her up and made her sit down on a nearby chair.
Olivia placed a gentle hand on her mother’s shoulder. “It’s only been a few hours since she woke up,” she whispered. “Let’s not think of the worst, Mom.”
Her adoptive mother didn’t respond. She only stared at Olivia with a paper-blank expression, like the look one might give a stranger they didn’t care about.
Olivia withdrew her hand, ignoring the tightening ache in her chest. She turned to Clayton, who still hadn’t moved an inch. “Let’s go inside. I need to check on the patient’s condition.”
When she headed for the door, he followed in silence. His movements were slow, almost robotic. He looked devastated. It made painfully clear just how much he cared for Caroline.
Dr. Quinn stepped out of Caroline's room. “Good evening, Dr. Hilton,” she greeted Olivia.
“Evening, Dr. Quinn.” Olivia’s voice shifted seamlessly from gentle to professional. “How’s the patient?”
“She’s stable but disoriented. She doesn’t remember her name, what happened, or even her parents. Typical after a traumatic brain injury. It will take some time for her to start remembering things.”
Olivia gave a small nod. “Thank you, Dr. Quinn. I’ll take it from here.”
Dr. Quinn paused for a moment before reaching out to squeeze Olivia’s shoulder, a quiet gesture of reassurance. But the warmth behind it barely registered. Whatever comfort she meant to offer failed to reach the place in Olivia where it was needed most.
Olivia took a deep breath and walked into the room. Clayton followed suit.
The moment the door clicked shut behind them, Carolinel lifted her head. Her gaze found Olivia first, then shifted to Clayton. Once it settled there, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. It was as if two hearts, long separated, had finally found each other again.
It was almost too painful to watch. Olivia wanted to cry more than she had in years. She felt like a part of herself had died.
Even though the tears burned behind her eyes, she had no right to shed them over someone she had only borrowed, someone who had never truly been hers.
Caroline was a presence she could never surpass, never measure up to—not in her adoptive parents’ eyes, and not even in Clayton’s.
The truth was devastating, but finally, Olivia allowed herself to accept it. It was time to let go.
“Clayton?” The word slipped from Caroline’s lips like a siren’s call, dredging up the sea of emotion Clayton had buried deep inside him.
“Y-you… r-remember me?”
“I do,” Caroline whispered. A small smile broke through the shadows of her bruised cheeks. Even like this, even with the tears streaking her face, she looked ethereal. “How could I ever forget my childhood friend… the man I promised I would marry when I grew up?”
“I was scared you’d forgotten me.” He peered at her face, his eyes staring straight as though he could see her soul, unveil her secrets. “I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… I failed to save you that day.”
Olivia had no idea what he was thinking, or what scenario his mind replayed, but she had never seen him so pained, so consumed by anguish before as if the weight of every guilt in the world rested on his shoulders.
She wanted to hold him tight, to murmur comfort against his ear and confess her love over and over until his pain eased. But she couldn’t move. Her feet felt anchored to the floor, held there by an invisible force she didn’t have the strength to fight.
So she just stood there, watching like an outsider until she forced herself to look away. If she kept watching them, she was afraid something inside her would shatter beyond repair.
Clayton didn’t notice her retreat, not when she took one step back, then another, carefully and quietly, afraid the sound of her shoes against the tiled floor might break the magical moment unfolding between two reuniting souls.
Olivia turned and slipped out of the room.
The door closed with a soft click behind her, sealing her out of a world she was never a part of.
She walked without direction, past Mr. and Mrs. Hilton, who were speaking but whose words she couldn't understand, past nurses’ stations and empty chairs, until her legs finally gave out and she sank onto a cold steel seat at the end of the corridor.
Only then did she let herself breathe.
Her hands went to her stomach again, fingers trembling as they rested over the barely-there curve. The life inside her was so small, so unaware of how complicated the world already was.
Footsteps approached.
Olivia straightened at once, wiping at her eyes before anyone could see the evidence of her weakness. When she looked up, it wasn’t Clayton.
It was Mrs. Hilton.
Her adoptive mother stood a few feet away, looking older, eyeliner smudged under her eyes. She stepped forward until she stood directly in front of Olivia.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
“Clayton cares deeply for Caroline,” Mrs. Hilton began, stating an obvious truth. “You understand that, don’t you?”
“I do,” Olivia replied, the word coming out weaker than she intended.
“Good.” Mrs. Hilton’s lips stretched with satisfaction. “Because Clayton doesn’t belong to you. He never did. You were only there to fill the silence, to keep him from falling for someone else while Caroline couldn’t be by his side.”
She lifted her chin up with the poise of a queen, but her words came out with deliberate cruelty. “From now on, you take the pill. Don’t even think about having Clayton’s child. I won’t tolerate complications. Do exactly as I say, and no one you care about will get dragged into this… or hurt.”
Olivia watched her walk away.
Even now, even after everything, she never mattered.
When Clayton finally stepped out of the room, nearly an hour had passed. Olivia had rebuilt herself with practiced calm, as if nothing inside her had shattered. She approached him, forcing a smile that felt borrowed, drawn from a reserve she didn’t know she still had.
“I didn’t see you leave. I was surprised you were gone.”
Of course you didn’t. How could you? You were too busy staring at Caroline.
“How is she?”
“She’s tired,” he answered, running a hand through his tousled hair. His eyes fluttered with exhaustion, struggling to stay open. “The nurse says she needs to rest.”
“We should go. You’ve had to take some rest too.”
Clayton shook his head. “I’ll stay a little longer. With her.”
Of course you will, Olivia thought. She smiled anyway. “I’ll see you at home.”
She walked away, her steps slow and composed. She didn't look back. If she was going to lose him, she would do it proudly, with dignity.