(Scarlett’s POV)
After consoling me for a few minutes, Chloe takes her leave.
My phone rings while I’m feeding Lily lunch. ir’s name shes on the screen, and my heart immediately starts racing.
“Hello?” <fn3d3a> For original chapters go to Find_Novel(.</fn3d3a>
“Scarlett, he’s awake.” Her voice is breathless, excited, but there’s something else underneath.
“Jasper woke up an hour ago.”
Relief floods through me so quickly I have to sit down. “Oh thank God. Is he okay? How is he?”
“That’s…plicated. Can youe to the hospital? I think… I think you need to see him.” The way she says it makes my blood run cold. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“Juste, habibti. Please.”
The line goes dead, leaving me staring at the phone with my heart hammering against my
ribs.
“Mama?” Lily looks up from her sandwich. “Who was that?”
“Grandma ir. She says Daddy woke up.”
Lily’s face lights up like Christmas morning. “Can we go see him now?”
“Yes, baby. Let’s go see Daddy.”
On the drive to the hospital, I keep thinking about the tone in ir’s voice, the careful way.she chose her words. Jasper’s awake, but something’s wrong. Something she couldn’t exin over the phone.
My hands shake as I park the car. Lily chatters excitedly beside me, asking if Daddy will be able toe home today, if he’ll want to see her new drawing, if she should tell him a story to make him feel better.
I smile, seeing her concern and care for her daddy.
ir meets us at the elevator, and one look at her face confirms my worst fears. She looks
< Chapter 143
exhausted, worried, like she’s been crying.
“How bad is it?” I ask as we ride up to the ICU.
+25 Parts
She nces at Lily, who’s busy pressing all the elevator buttons, then lowers her voice. “The doctor says he might have some memory issues. The concussion was worse than they initially thought.”
“Memory issues?”
“He’s… confused about some things. About what year it is and all.”
My stomach drops. “What do you mean?”
“He thinks it’s five years ago, Scarlett. He doesn’t remember your separation. Doesn’t remember Virginia moving in with us. He keeps asking for you.”
The elevator doors open, but I can’t move. Can’t process what she’s telling me.
“He keeps asking for me?”
“He wants to know where his wife is. Why you’re not here. The doctors had to sedate him earlier because he got so agitated.”
Lily tugs on my hand. “Mama,e on. I want to see Daddy.”
I follow ir down the hallway in a daze. Five years ago. Five years ago, we were still married. I was still trying to make things work, still believed our love would be enough to ovee all of Vriginia’s schemes.
“The doctor says no one is allowed in right now,” ir continues as we approach his room. “He’s been getting upset every time Virginia tries to visit. Keeps asking what she’s doing here.
We stop outside room 314. Through the window, I can see him propped up in bed, looking pale but alert. When his eyes meet mine through the ss, his face transforms.
Pure joy. Relief. Love.
The kind of expression I haven’t seen from him in years.
“Letty,” he mouths through the ss, using the nickname he gave me on our honeymoon. The one he stopped using when he began to find me ridiculous and dramatic.
My heart cracks wide open.
“I don’t think I should go in there,” I whisper. “ir, if he thinks we’re still married-
<“Chapter 143
<b>+25 </b>Points
“He needs to see you,” she says firmly. “He’s been asking for you for hours. The doctors think seeing you might help stabilize him.”
“But when he remembers-”
“We’ll deal with that when it happens. Right now, he needs his wife.”
His wife. The words hit me like a physical blow.
I’m not his wife. I stopped being his wife four years ago. Now…
Now I’m engaged to another man. I’m building a life with Dorian, nning a wedding, creating a future that doesn’t include Jasper ke anymore.
But looking at him through that window, seeing the hope and love in his eyes, I remember how he threw himself in front of a car to save me.
I remember our past, our college years when I was the center of his world. When he wanted, <i>needed</i><i>, </i>me with that kind of desperate intensity.
“Mama, why aren’t we going in?” Lily asks.
“Just give me a minute, baby.”
I pull out my phone and call Dorian. He answers on the first ring.
“How’s Lily doing? Are you both okay?”
“Jasper woke up.” The wordse out in a rush. “But Dorian, there’s a problem. He has some kind of memory loss. He thinks it’s five years ago. He thinks we’re still married.”
Silence on the other end of the line.
“Dorian?”
“I’m here. What does that mean exactly?”
“I don’t know. ir says he’s been asking for me, getting upset when I’m not there. The doctors think seeing me might help.”
“And you want to go in there.”
It’s not a question. He knows me too well.
“I have to. Lily wants to see her father, and he’s not going to calm down until he sees me.”
“Scarlett…” His voice is careful, controlled. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? If he thinks you’re still married, if he doesn’t remember your separation…”
< Chapter 143
“I know howplicated this is. But I don’t know what to do.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“Do what you need to do,” he says finally. “Just… be careful.”
“Okay.”
“Call meter?<b>” </b>
“I will.”
I hang up and turn to ir. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
+25 Points
She nods and speaks quietly to the nurse, who nces at me with sympathy before opening the door to Jasper’s room.
I tell Lily to wait for me, that I need to talk to her daddy alone first, then we’ll call her in. If he really doesn’t remember anything from five years ago…he probably doesn’t remember Lily as well.
I’ll need to brief him, tell him about her existence, so her little heart won’t break when she finds out her daddy doesn’t remember her anymore.
“I understand, Mama. You want daddy to yourself first. Don’t worry. I won’t fight with you!” She giggles, making me shake my head.
I wonder how such nonsense entered her head. It seems I’ll need to start monitoring the cartoons she watches.
I take a step. But before I can enter the room, a shadow blurs past me and blocks my way.
Violet Moon
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