Her shoulders shook violently, and she finally broke down crying.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Dad. Your daughter has failed you."
If I hadn't insisted on coming back six years ago, Dad wouldn't have worried himself sick over me. He wouldn't have ruined his health. And in the end, he wouldn't have taken his own life just so he wouldn't be a burden. Mom wouldn't have had a stroke from the shock.
Now I've gone and lost the only thing Dad left me.
Her mother pulled her into her arms, gently stroking her back. "Sweetheart, this is a good thing. What are you crying for? If Hugh ever treats you badly, you come right back to me. As long as I'm here, you'll always have a home."
Carla held her mother tight and nodded over and over.
After leaving the hospital room, she went to the nurses' station to ask about transferring her mother to another facility.
No matter what, she had to get her mother settled first.
Hugh's call came without warning.
"You're decorating the wedding venue. You know better than anyone what I like and what I don't."
A pause. Then, like bait on a hook:
"If you do a good job, I might consider giving the pendant back."
She clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached, swallowing the burn behind her eyes, and agreed.
She arrived at the venue.
She relayed everything to the coordinator. Hugh's preferences. His habits at formal events. His taste in attire. She even had the flowers arranged as pink roses, the kind Hugh always bought for Ann.
She moved through it all like a machine, handling every last detail with mechanical precision.
As long as I get the pendant back, I'll leave this place and never come back.
But when she returned the next morning, nothing was the way she'd arranged it.
The pink roses had been replaced with garden roses, her favorite flower.
The entire menu had been swapped out for dishes with the sweet-and-sour flavors she loved.
Even the dessert had been changed to tiramisu, her absolute weakness.
She was still trying to make sense of it when Hugh's arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Sweetheart, this is a surprise I prepared just for you. Do you like it?"
She didn't respond. She tried to pull free from his embrace, but his arms wouldn't give.
"You're the only woman I've ever loved. Just pretend none of it happened. This is our wedding. Yours and mine. Isn't that what you wanted?"
The words drove straight into the rawest part of her. She struggled harder.
The second she broke free, her palm cracked across his face.
"You're insane." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he heard every syllable. "Don't you dare taint what I felt for you."
She steadied her breathing. "I did what you asked. When do I get the pendant back?"
Something dark shifted behind his eyes. His hand shot up and closed around her throat.
"So what if you get it back? Look at yourself. Where would you even go without me?" His grip tightened just enough to make a point. "In this entire world, I'm the only one who doesn't find you repulsive. The only one willing to love you."
A smile curled at the corner of his mouth as he said it.
Those striking eyes of his were rimmed with red, and for a split second, she found herself staring, caught off guard.
Then she laughed. A cold, hollow sound.
"Stop lying to yourself. The woman you love stopped being me a long time ago."
Hugh froze. Confusion flickered across his sculpted features.
That was when Ann appeared.
"Is this the pendant you've been looking for, Carla?" She held it up, turning it so the light caught the jade. "Hugh gave it to me ages ago."
Carla's head snapped toward her. There it was, right there in Ann's hand: the pendant her father had given her.
Her breathing turned ragged. She lunged forward to grab it.
Ann shoved her back with a force that didn't belong to a woman supposedly dying of brain cancer.
"This is a token of love from Hugh. Why on earth would I just hand it over to you?"
Carla's gaze locked onto Hugh, and for the first time, the man standing before her felt like a complete stranger.
The man she had once been willing to sacrifice everything to love had taken her father's last keepsake and given it away to another woman without a second thought.
