Chapter 417
[ 498 words ]
Chapter 417:
The sight of her mother, so diminished, finally pierced through Caroline’s shock. A raw, animal sound of pain tore from her throat. She stumbled to the bedside, her hands closing over Vivian’s, which were already cold to the touch.
“Mom…” The word was a shattered whisper. She finally began to cry, dry, racking sobs that shook her entire frame.
Vivian’s eyelids fluttered open. Her gaze was hazy, but it found Jarrod, standing by the door. Her eyes held a final, desperate plea.
He understood. He crossed the room and leaned down close to her, keeping his shattered left hand shielded against his chest and his right arm immobile in its support brace.
“Protect her…” Vivian whispered, her fingers finding his wrist, her grip surprisingly strong. “Always…”
Y𝗼𝘶𝗋 𝗱ai𝗅𝗒 𝘥𝘰s𝖾 o𝗳 𝗇о𝘷е𝗅𝘴 𝘰𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝘭𝗇𝘰v𝖾𝘭𝘀.сo𝘮
“I swear it,” Jarrod said, his voice thick with an emotion he rarely showed. It was the most solemn vow of his life.
With that assurance, Vivian’s eyes moved to the doorway, where Donovan stood, a ghost frozen on the threshold. She looked at him for a long moment, a lifetime of love, anger, and forgiveness passing between them in a silent glance.
Then her gaze returned to her daughter. It was filled with an infinite, aching love, and a profound, bottomless guilt. She lifted her free hand, her fingers trembling as she stroked Caroline’s tear-streaked cheek. Her lips moved, forming words that were thick and slurred, coming from a great distance.
“Caroline… my baby…”
“Forgive… forgive your… father…”
In the fog of her grief, the word “father” conjured only one image in Caroline’s mind: Walter Thompson. Her kind, loving, adoptive father, taken from them too soon. She thought her mother, in her delirium, was asking for him. Asking Caroline to forgive him for leaving them alone.
It was a catastrophic misunderstanding, born of sorrow.
“I do, Mom,” she sobbed, nodding frantically. “I forgave him a long time ago. I promise.”
Only two people in the room knew the truth.
In the doorway, Donovan heard Vivian’s words and Caroline’s reply. A choked sound escaped him, and he clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle the sob that tore through him. Tears streamed down his face, unchecked.
Jarrod’s heart broke. He watched Caroline, so lost in her pain, so completely oblivious, and the weight of the secret he carried felt like a physical stone in his chest. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t correct her.
Vivian seemed to find peace in her daughter’s mistaken promise. A faint, tired smile touched her lips. Her hand, the one holding Caroline’s, went slack.
On the monitor, the jagged line of her heartbeat flattened into a single, unwavering green line. A long, piercing, electronic tone filled the room.
Vivian was gone.
“No… NO! Mom!” Caroline screamed, shaking her mother’s lifeless shoulder, trying to will her back.
The final, brutal shock, combined with days of no sleep and unbearable stress, was too much. The edges of her vision went dark. The piercing beep of the monitor faded into a dull roar.
She pitched forward, her consciousness winking out like a snuffed candle.
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