That doctor was the same one who had extracted Lily's bone marrow.
They were all in it together.
My face went blank. The pain in my chest had numbed itself into nothing.
"No need. My mother is already gone."
Thomas laughed.
"Trying to lie your way into getting a doctor? You can't fool me."
He closed the distance, step by step.
"If something really did happen to her, it's your fault, Vivienne. You're the one who refused to back down."
My throat locked. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I rushed forward and raised my arm.
My palm was inches from Thomas's face.
But Tracey, the woman with the supposedly injured ankle, shot to her feet and threw herself between us.
She shoved me. Hard.
I wasn't braced for it. The back of my skull cracked against the doorframe and my body flew backward.
Before I blacked out, I heard Thomas's panicked shout.
"Vivienne!"
When I opened my eyes again, every inch of me screamed with pain, except my abdomen. My abdomen felt nothing at all.
The doctor and Thomas were both standing at my bedside.
Memory flooded back. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to look at either of them.
But the doctor delivered the news anyway.
"The prolonged stress and the delay in treatment allowed the cancer cells to spread."
My eyes snapped open. "Cancer...?"
The doctor sighed. "Uterine cancer."
"The fall also caused severe trauma to the uterus."
"The surgery went well. We removed the uterus and saved your life."
"But you will never be able to bear children again."
I stared at nothing. The agony in my chest arrived on a delay, crashing over me all at once.
Tears slid down before I could stop them.
Thomas grabbed my hand, gripping it so tight his fingertips trembled.
He bowed his head, pressing his forehead against mine.
A long silence. Then his voice came out broken.
"I'm sorry... I didn't know..."
"I thought we could have another child..."
"But I was so caught up with Douglas's bone marrow transplant..."
Another child.
That would never happen now. Not in this lifetime.
And Lily would never have anything to do with Thomas Gilbert again either.
"Vivienne, once Douglas is formally adopted into the Gilbert family, we'll start fresh. A real life together."
"I mean it this time. I'll send Tracey away."
He paused, then scrambled to his feet.
"I'll go take care of it right now."
The door clicked shut, and a sharp cramp tore through my abdomen.
The anesthesia was wearing off.
So was everything between us.