"I couldn't find you at the restaurant. I was going out of my mind!"
Oliver played it like a man undone by love, stroking my hair, hot tears sliding down his face.
I pried his hand away and tried to go back to sleep. That was when he noticed the bare band of pale skin on my ring finger. The engagement ring was gone.
"Mel, what happened? We promised we'd wear those rings our whole lives. How could you lose it and not even tell me?"
I forced up a small smile. "It was too cold, so I came back early."
"I lost the ring by accident. It's such a small thing, it didn't seem worth mentioning."
I'd been out in the cold wind too long these past few days, and now I couldn't stop coughing.
"Mel, are you all right?"
Oliver pressed his palm to my forehead and was already on the phone to the best hospital in the city.
"Every one of your doctors is to be there today. If anything happens to Mel, that's on you."
I waved a hand and said I'd just gotten chilled, nothing serious. He insisted on taking me in for a full examination anyway.
"Don't worry. I'll make you well again."
"As for the ring, once you're better we'll fly to Switzerland for the jewelry auction. Whatever piece you want, it's yours."
By six in the morning, the tests confirmed I was fine, and only then did Oliver relax.
"Mel, thank God you're okay. If something happened to you, if you left me, I wouldn't want to live either."
He stroked my forehead carefully, checking my temperature over and over. Seeing how pale I looked, he offered to cook for me himself.
The man who never so much as lifted a finger at home carried bags of groceries off toward the little kitchen off the ward.
I watched his back as he bustled around, and it all felt hazy and false.
I checked the calendar. Two more days and I could leave. My body was fine now, and I planned to go back on my own.
I pulled on my coat and stepped out of the ward. Regina was coming straight toward me. She didn't notice me, though. She just turned and slipped into one of the side rooms.
Something felt off, so I followed. Before I even got close, I heard Regina's voice, sweet and simpering.
"So devoted to Melanie. I've never had you cook for me with your own hands."
Regina teased her fingers under Oliver's chin, a little jealousy in her tone.
"Mel had a coughing fit. I was worried about her."
"Today I'm giving her my full attention. If there's nothing important, don't bother me."
Regina snatched the cooking utensils out of his hand and hurled the soup he'd just finished to the floor.
"What's that supposed to mean? So you're choosing her?"
She made a show of leaving, then flung a lab report out of her bag. "Then me and the baby in my belly will never come back."
Oliver looked startled at first. Then he read the report carefully, his brow smoothing out, and he was so overcome he lifted Regina off her feet and spun her in a circle.
"Something this big, and you're only telling me now?"
"I only came in for tests this morning because of the morning sickness. The doctor said I'm three months along, that I need to rest properly."
"Last night we were really careless. The baby isn't stable yet. I'm scared..."
Oliver held Regina in his arms, looking down at the report with satisfaction, telling her over and over not to worry.
"Don't be afraid. I'll get every doctor here to check again right now. Our baby is going to be perfectly safe."
Regina nodded, pleased, and leaned in close to kiss him.
Oliver caught the scent of his favorite perfume and pressed himself hard against her. His eyes clouded with want as he bent his head and softly circled his arm around her neck.
Their kiss was hot and lingering. Regina ran both hands over his arms, lost in it.
Through the gap in the door I watched the two of them without an inch between them, the news that Regina was pregnant turning over and over in my head.
She was actually pregnant. Ten years ago Oliver had insisted he never wanted children, that he only wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.
His single-mindedness had once moved me. Now it just struck me as absurd. I recorded the two of them and got ready to leave.
They were making so much noise, still oblivious to the utensils clattering on the floor, that the sound drew a crowd, until a young nurse finally came in.
"Mr. Gilbert, is there anything you need? Miss Henson has been waiting for you at the door this whole time."
Their lingering kiss broke off, and they both saw me behind the door.
I had no interest in playing along, and turned to go, but she called out to stop me.
Without a shred of guilt, she cried out, "Mel, what are you doing here? What a coincidence."
Oliver hurriedly hid the report behind his back, his hands going right back to the soup he was making for me.
I asked back, calm, "Regina, why are you at the hospital too?"
"I came to see you, of course. You're my best friend. I was worried about you."
"Regina came specially to help me. She knows what you like. We were just talking about what to cook for you."
Oliver stepped in to smooth it over, but the guilt in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Regina picked up his line and started comforting me. "Mel, you have to take good care of yourself. It's a good thing you're not pregnant, or you'd really be suffering."
A cold laugh rose in me. Their acting was so smooth and natural it fooled everyone around them, and the young nurses kept casting envious glances their way.
Regina put on a caring face and moved to help me up. As she leaned in close, the tattoo of Oliver's English name by her collarbone slipped into view, as if by accident.
I threw off her hand and went back to the ward alone.
