His Love Is Not Visible Chapter 04
The snow kept falling into the evening.
I left the office after working late. The parking lot was a sheet of ice, and I slipped just as I reached my car.
I hit the ground hard.
Almost immediately, a sharp, cramping pain seized my lower abdomen. It wasn’t normal.
Only a few people were left in the office, and no one was passing through the parking lot.
I called 911, leaning against my car door as I waited for the ambulance.
After I hung up, I called Garrett.
The call connected. It was loud on his end.
I heard a man’s voice. “G, you here to pick up Vanessa?”
The pain made it impossible to speak. I don’t know when the call ended.
All I knew was that Garrett was with Vanessa.
The ambulance took me to the ER.
After the doctor examined me, he asked, “Did you know you were pregnant?”
I hadn’t.
I lay on the operating table, tears running into my hair.
I signed the consent forms for the D&C myself, refusing the offer to contact my spouse.
The anesthesiologist lowered the mask over my face. The smell of disinfectant was overwhelming.
Soon, I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I didn’t contact Garrett.
I only told Megan. She helped me hire an in-home caregiver.
Three days later, I was discharged and went home.
That was when the distance between Garrett and me became a chasm.
I stopped asking why he didn’t come home at night and stopped leaving a light on for him when he had business dinners.
Once I stopped waiting for him, life became surprisingly easier.
I buried the fight and the miscarriage deep inside me and kept on working, eating, and living.
Megan was worried about me being alone, so she practically dragged me to her apartment to stay with her.
She said a lot of comforting things.
I shrugged.
“Meg, I’m fine. You don’t have to keep watching me.”
She clearly didn’t believe me.
Later, she realized I really wasn’t just sitting around crying all day.
I went skiing with friends in Park City, where I ran into Vanessa again.
It was the first time we had seen each other up close.
We passed in the lodge. She glanced at me, a faint, unreadable smile on her lips.
I didn’t stop.
I even took a few days of PTO and went to San Diego with Megan.
That was the second month of my separation from Garrett.
When we occasionally crossed paths at home, we would just nod and go about our business.
I used to be the one to ask about his day and talk about dinner. Once I stopped, the house fell silent.
In the third month, I was having dinner at a fondue restaurant.
A server slipped, and the pot of hot broth she was carrying splashed directly onto my back.
Blisters bloomed across my skin instantly.
The pain was so intense I could barely stand.
Ryan Cole and Vanessa happened to be there, too. Ryan was one of Garrett’s college friends and a doctor.
He came over and asked if I needed help.
I shook my head. The last thing I wanted was their involvement.
Later, the hospital treated the burn.
And on the day of my final follow-up, I ran into Garrett in the hallway, there with Vanessa for her appointment.