Vivienne recoiled, disgust written across her face as she shook off Grandma Nora's hand. She pulled out a wet wipe and scrubbed each finger like she was removing contamination.
Before marrying Jasper, Vivienne had dug up everything there was to know about the people around him. She knew all about Hilda.
A silent sneer curled behind her lips.
Hilda really ought to take a good look in the mirror before playing the childhood-sweethearts card with Jasper.
Grandma Nora stared at the scattered photos on the floor. Her vision blurred, darkening at the edges, and her legs nearly gave out beneath her.
Then, without warning, Vivienne's voice shifted to something soft and coy.
"Jasper, you're finally here! This woman barged in out of nowhere, throwing her age around and making a scene. She keeps insisting you're her granddaughter's husband."
Grandma Nora forced her clouded eyes open as wide as they would go. She shifted her stiff body, and the moment she saw Jasper, she reached for him on instinct.
"Jasper, dear."
But this man who had once sat at a hospital bedside holding Hilda's hand and promising to love her granddaughter for the rest of his life now stood frowning at the old woman. "What are security doing? How did they let someone like this in?"
He stepped on the photo beneath his shoe.
"Get her out. My wedding is in a few days. I won't have some stranger ruining Vivienne's mood."
He turned to leave. Behind him, something hit the ground with a heavy thud, followed by a chorus of screams.
Jasper's pupils contracted. He whipped around.
He moved toward her on instinct, but Vivienne caught his arm.
"Careful, Jasper. What if she's faking it to shake us down for money?"
A few employees wandered over to check. Vivienne tugged at Jasper's sleeve, her voice a playful whine. "Come on, just let them call 911. That's enough."
"Unless you're really staying behind for Hilda's sake and leaving me here alone?"
Jasper shook his head immediately. "Of course not."
He took Vivienne's hand and smiled. "Let's go. It's the birthday girl's day. The sky could fall and I wouldn't leave your side."
That day, Hilda had been like a lost child. She didn't know where Grandma had gone or what had happened. She didn't understand how the old woman who was supposed to be discharged that morning was dead by afternoon.
All Hilda remembered was how bright the hospital lights were, so bright the hallway blurred. She ran after the stretcher, legs burning, the taste of blood rising in her throat.
She collapsed to her knees outside the operating room, desperate for a shoulder to lean on for the first time in her life.
By the time she realized what she was doing, the call to Jasper had already gone through.
A few rings, then a woman's voice picked up. "Who is this?"
Behind the voice: the rush of a shower running.
Hilda opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
She curled in on herself, inch by inch, until she was doubled over, making a sound somewhere between laughing and sobbing, a raw, airless rasp that could have been either.
The woman on the other end let out a scoff and hung up.
Just before Hilda blacked out, a searing cramp tore through her lower abdomen. Then she felt warmth, thick and steady, spreading down her inner thighs.
When she opened her eyes again, a doctor was telling her she had lost her first child.
After leaving the funeral home, Hilda went straight home.
She had been shattered, one blow after another. Her body, still wrecked from the miscarriage, hadn't even begun to heal. She should have been resting.
But she couldn't wait another second. Everything connected to Jasper was an invisible hand around her throat, squeezing the air out of her lungs.
She needed to get out. Now.
She hadn't expected Jasper to come back.
His eyes went red the instant he saw the ransacked apartment. He grabbed the suitcase from her hands, his voice cracking. "Where are you going?"
Hilda's voice was hoarse, scraped raw. "Jasper, let's break up."
"No. No, no, baby, why would you suddenly want to break up?"
Tears flooded Jasper's eyes. He seized her hands, gripping them so hard his knuckles went white.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Work's had me tied up these past few days and I neglected you. Don't hold it against me, please?"
"Hit me if you want. Scream at me. I'll get on my knees right now. Just don't break up with me, okay?"
He pulled her into his arms, rambling about how terrified he'd been when her phone wouldn't go through.
"Jasper." Her voice cut through his noise. "Have you ever actually thought about marrying me?"
He froze. Something panicked flashed through his eyes before he could hide it.
"How could I not want to marry you? Our wedding is a week away!"
He pressed her hand flat against his chest. "Hilda, did someone feed you lies? Is that what this is about?"
Hilda looked at the man in front of her, his face arranged into perfect, tender devotion, and felt nothing but revulsion and absurdity crashing together.
She wrenched her hand free. Her nails raked across the back of his hand, leaving a thin line of blood.
"You're already a married man, Jasper. Does this act of yours really seem appropriate?"
Every muscle in his body locked. The flawless mask cracked, fracture by fracture.
Hilda grabbed her suitcase and headed for the door, but Jasper yanked her back so hard she nearly fell.
"That's not it, Hilda. You've got it wrong. Just let me explain."
"I never wanted to marry her. I swear. My parents forced me. I had no choice!"
He swiped at his tears. "I love you. I only love you. Please believe me."
Hilda stared at him, her gaze ice-cold. Then, without a word, she reached out and tore open the buttons of his shirt.
A sprawl of red marks covered his skin, unmistakable.
"Jasper, I don't dare believe you anymore."
