Chapter 3 - The Wife in the Hospital Bed
Sophie pushed herself slightly higher against the pillows.
The movement was weak, but the fear in her eyes was growing stronger.
She looked from Claire to Daniel.
Then to Evelyn.
Then to the newborn.
No one explained.
That silence seemed to frighten her more than Claire’s arrival.
Claire saw the IV line taped to Sophie’s hand.
The blue recovery gown.
The tired pallor of recent birth.
The way Sophie’s fingers gripped the hospital sheet as if the room had suddenly tilted beneath her.
Claire did not hate her immediately.
That surprised her.
She had imagined, in the half-second after seeing the bed, that hatred would arrive clean and hot.
Instead, she saw another woman recovering in a private suite, watching Daniel with the dawning terror of someone realizing she had not been told the whole story.
Daniel noticed Claire watching Sophie.
He moved again, blocking her.
Claire’s eyes returned to him.
“Afraid she’ll hear something?”
His jaw tightened.
“She is recovering.”
“And I was grieving.”
Evelyn hissed, “Enough.”
The newborn startled.
Evelyn immediately softened her grip, rocking him once with practiced care.
For a second, the room looked almost tender.
That made the lie uglier.
Claire’s voice stayed steady.
“What did you tell her I was?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“This is not the place.”
Claire looked around the suite.
The crib.
The baby mobile.
The bedside lamp.
The nursery decorations chosen with care.
“No,” she said. “This is exactly the place.”
Sophie whispered, “Daniel?”
He did not turn.
That answered something.
Sophie’s eyes filled with alarm.
Claire took another step.
Daniel’s palm rose again.
“Do not come closer.”
Claire looked at his hand.
Once, that hand had worn a wedding ring beside hers.
Now it was raised like a barrier between two lives he had kept from touching.
Her mouth trembled once.
Then stilled.
“Are you going to explain how a dead man has a wife and a son?”
Daniel glanced at Evelyn.
Quick.
Subtle.
Terrified.
Claire caught it.
So did Sophie.
Evelyn’s expression hardened into calculation.
The baby stirred again.
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And the room’s silence turned sharper.
Read Chapter 4 👉 Because Sophie’s confusion revealed she was not the only person Daniel had deceived, but Claire still could not tell how much she knew.
