KATHLEEN'S POV
My marital bond to Jeremy ended in court today.
The judge's words rang in my ears even as I walked out of the courtroom, my steps were stiff and hollow. Jeremy gained full custody of our child. Complete rights. There was no negotiation and I could not visit. Every sentence had been a hammer driving deeper into my chest until I felt nothing but the echo of pain.
Outside, the world was moving normally, cars passing, people chatting, the sun glinting off windshields. But inside me everything was collapsing.
Jeremy stopped walking and turned to face me. His eyes were cold. I could not tell what he was feeling.
"You heard what the judge said," he said flatly. "No rights to Eden. I never want to see you again and do not try to come around her."
He turned, and panic rushed through me like a sudden fever. I reached for his arm, the last piece of him I had left.
"Jeremy, please…just listen…"
But he flung my hand off as if my touch burned him. "Get your filthy hands off me."
The disgust on his face washed over me like acid. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as if trying to drown out his words, but they echoed mercilessly.
I staggered back a step, then turned and walked across the pathway, the world blurring around me. Every memory of the past days replayed in fragments, the accusations, papers tearing, his voice cold, my mother's unconscious face, the judge's gavel striking, Eden's tiny hand in mine… all of it crashing together.
Someone was shouting. I heard it faintly like a distant call underwater. My vision flickered at the edges. I blinked, but the world was tilting, the ground swaying beneath my feet. My legs were shaking, refusing to hold my weight as the swirl of dizziness tightened around me.
The voice shouting grew louder but less clear.
I opened my mouth to say something but my body gave in before my words could form.
And then everything went dark.
***
When I opened my eyes, the room felt strange.
It was cold and quiet. Looming with the sharp scent of disinfectant. My eyes opened slowly, fighting the heaviness that weighed them down. I blinked once… twice… trying to gather the edges of the world around me. Everything felt distant, unfamiliar with a ceiling too white and lights that were too bright for my gaze.
Suddenly, the door opened.
A doctor stepped in with a nurse beside him, both of them moving with practiced steps towards my bed. I tried to speak, but my throat felt tight, dry. The doctor came closer, his expression gentle.
"Kathleen Shaw," he said softly, "how are you feeling?"
I blinked again. It was the only answer my body could manage.
My lips parted, struggling for sound. It took me time, longer than I expected before the words pushed themselves out, weak and shaky.
"Why… am I here?"
The doctor exchanged a quick glance with the nurse before facing me again.
"You were rushed in by your husband," he said. "We're glad you're awake and stable now."
Husband?
The word cut through the fog in my mind.
Jeremy? Jeremy rushed me in?
The last thing I remembered was walking out of court after getting the court's decision and finalizing our divorce. Jeremy abandoned me at court. He hates me now.
Why would he bring me here? Why would he care?
My heart thudded again, painfully.
Unconsciously, my hand moved towards my belly. And then it hit me, the reason I may have collapsed. The fear that swallowed me whole.
"My… baby…" I whispered. "What about my baby?"
The doctor's face shifted instantly.
His posture sank, and his eyes softened with the kind of pity you never want directed at you. The nurse lowered her gaze.
"I'm… very sorry," the doctor said quietly. "We weren't able to save your baby."
The words didn't make sense at first.They just floated there, suspended in the air.
Then they landed on me.
I stared at him, unable to breathe. My mind emptied out, then filled up all at once with confusion, disbelief, a grief so sharp it sliced through whatever strength I had left.
A tear rolled down the side of my face.
Then another.
The doctor kept speaking, something about stress, something about shock but the sounds blurred until they were nothing but distant echoes.
Inside me, the scenes began to replay. Every moment that led up to this day.
Being thrown out of the mansion barefoot.
The rain soaking my clothes.
My mother-in-law's face filled with hate for me.
Sean's lies.
The disgrace.
Jeremy's eyes filled with disgust.
The betrayal.
The humiliation.
The begging.
The sacrifice.
My mother's surgery.
The name calling.
And now, my baby is gone too.
The one thing I held onto. The last piece of hope I carried through the storm was gone.
My hand trembled as I pressed it weakly against my abdomen. I couldn't feel the emptiness.
A part of me shattered quietly. I opened my mouth to scream.
No sound.
Just a deep, tearing ache spreading through my chest.
I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall freely. The nurse placed a gentle hand on my arm, but it felt far away. Everything felt far away.
Everything except the truth.
Amidst tears and sorrow, I asked myself questions I barely had any answer to.
How did I get here?
How did all of this begin?