The agony of the miscarriage was compounded by its incompleteness. Alone in the sterile hospital room, Athena lay still as cold instruments scraped away the remnants of her baby. The clotted blood and tissue were flushed away, vanishing as if they had never existed.
When she finally awoke, her heart was shattered into pieces, and with it, the wedding she had once dreamed of.
Ever since Aliana had returned, every act, every whisper, had been a fresh wound, each one carving deeper into her heart. The love she had so freely given to Emmett had been drained dry, leaving her a hollow shell.
Standing before the grave, time seemed to stretch on forever, her legs growing numb from the stillness. Finally, Athena wiped away the last of her tears and made the call to arrange for her parents’ graves to be relocated.
“Dad, Mom, I’ll bring you home. From now on, we’ll be free from the Davidson family.”
She joined the team handling the relocation and spent five long days isolated from everything in her quiet, rural hometown.
During that time, Emmett called her repeatedly, his voice dripping with sweetness, asking where she was and why she hadn’t come back.