Page 46 of The Weight of Her Silence
The doors to the emergency room opened. A doctor emerged, clipboard in hand, her expression somber but professional.
“Hartwell family?” she asked gently.
Nate swallowed hard.
“Yes. That’s us.”
“I’m Dr. Winslow. Your wife is stable and awake. She’s resting now, but very weak.”
Nate exhaled slowly, relief mingling with fear.
There was more.
He saw it in the doctor’s eyes.
“We ran several tests after her collapse,” Dr. Winslow said carefully. “It appears your wife has an advanced form of cancer—specifically, metastatic ovarian cancer.
It’s likely been progressing for months, possibly longer, undiagnosed and untreated.
This explains her sudden collapse and the severity of her symptoms.”
Nate’s heart hammered against his ribs, breath catching.
Cancer.
His wife. His Lila.
The woman who had smiled through the pain, who had never asked for help.
“She didn’t tell us,” Ava’s voice cracked, the facade breaking for a moment.
“She didn’t tell me,” Nate whispered, shame crashing over him like a tidal wave.
“The diagnosis came as a shock to all of us,” Dr. Winslow continued gently.
“Unfortunately, it has advanced significantly by the time she was brought in. We need to run more tests to determine treatment options, but the road ahead will be difficult.”
Nate felt the world shift beneath him. Every missed moment, every broken vow, every secret whispered in the dark—they all landed here, at this terrible truth.
“She’s been carrying this alone,” Nate thought, voice lost somewhere in the turmoil.
“And I… I was blind.”
Ava’s hand found Caleb’s, their small grip a fragile anchor.
“Can we see her?” Ava asked, her voice steady despite everything.
“Yes. But only one at a time.
She’s exhausted.”
Ava nodded, standing and moving forward with Caleb close behind.
Nate remained seated, his gaze fixed on the floor, haunted by memories of laughter and love, now shadowed by betrayal and illness.
She was dying.
And he had been too caught up in his own darkness to see her fading.
