Page 96 of Broken Bonds

“Look, Stella, the first time I saw you, I didn’t know you or your intentions. The only thing I knew was that you were a stranger claiming to be my wife.”

We have to put some space between us to have this conversation, so I reluctantly let her go. She has her hands clasped on her lap and her eyes fixed on them.

“That night, after you went to sleep at the hotel, Ethan and I made a plan. He told me everything you had done, so I agreed. He trusts Alexandra’s intuition with people, and I trust him. We both knew you were the key in all this mess. I knew you weren’t involved, but…” I pause because I need a couple of seconds to collect myself because I’m about to stutter, I see her cringe, as my lack of words is hurting her. “But more than that, I wanted to know you better because I saw something in you, something that called me to protect you. This instinct, almost like a reflex…”

“None of that was enough for you to tell me the truth, though was it?” Her words have the force of a whip, like I can actually feel them. Abrasive, like a burn on my back.

“We needed time, you know that.”

“Time for you to feed me lies,” she accuses, staring at me, the pain reflected in those infinite blue eyes that knock me out straight onto the canvas. “While I unknowingly fell in love with a new man. Now, I realize that although the other Lionel and you are different people, you have something in common. Neither one is real.”

I open my mouth to speak, but again she raises her hand to stop my words. Of course, I’m real, what we lived was real, everything we said to each other was real.

She poured her heart out there. And so did I.

“That doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore. Go away, Lionel.”

Her decision is made.

“Okay,” I reply, getting up from the bed. “You need space to rest and recover. I’ll be in the hall, for whenever you are ready to talk.”

Before leaving through the door and exiting the room, I hear her let out an exasperated sigh.

Yes, this time the roles have been reversed. It is time to fight for what I want.

And what I want is her.

And I’m not going to give up so easily.

???

“I suppose you’re Lionel,” says a woman in a rather demure gray dress and sensible shoes.

I look at her from my place on the floor. I’ve been reading the electronic version of that famous book about pregnancies since Stella kicked me out of the room. Sometimes I get up and walk around the hallways, earning side glances from the staff. But mostly here on the floor, giving her room to think, but never too far. My place is by her side.

I get up to say hello. “Indeed, I’m Lionel Kral, but I’m at a disadvantage, you are…”

“Sister June,” she replies, narrowing her eyes, very obviously looking me up and down. “Stella has been with me.”

I let out a sigh of pure relief. At least now I know that Stella wasn’t alone.

“What happened? Why did she end up here in the hospital?”

She takes a deep breath and shakes her head before answering. “That girl is stubborn as a mule. She kept insisting that it was just a bug that she might have caught from all the stress, but I suspected it was something different. I insisted for days that she needed to see a doctor, but my words were said in vain. This weekend, she was home alone as I attended a retreat that we have long planned in the community. When we arrived, we found her passed out in the bathroom.”

I run a hand through my hair, feeling exasperated. Stella can be very hardheaded when she wants to be.

“Thank God, I arrived on time,” Sister June adds.

“Has she been feeling sick for a long time?”

She nods her head. “Since she arrived, she said it was difficult to hide it from you when she was in Los Angeles.”

Dammit. And I was too busy doing other things, between waking up early to get some exercise and being able to eat breakfast with her before I went to work.

Why the hell wasn’t I paying more attention? Guilt hits me like a speeding train.

“How did you find her?” she asks me, this time raising her eyebrows.

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