Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

"Star..." Briony stared up at the crystal chandelier above her, her eyes blank and hollow. Her voice was so raw it was almost a whisper. "I dreamed about my granddad. And my mom..."

Stella's chest tightened. She wrung out the warm washcloth and gently dabbed at the sweat and tears on Briony's face.

"It's normal," Stella murmured, "to dream of the people you miss most when you're sick."

She continued, her voice steady, trying to comfort her friend. "You had a mild fever earlier today. I used alcohol to try to bring it down, and Stewart dropped off some medicine from the local pharmacy. I stayed, just in case he got suspicious. Later, Dr. Clarke wanted to stop by and check on you, but I turned him away."

Briony blinked once, slowly, as if she hadn't heard a word Stella said. She kept talking, lost in her dream.

"I was lost... It was a long, endless tunnel. My granddad was calling me from behind, and my mom was in front of me, blocking my way..."

Stella gently pried Briony's cold, clenched fingers off the blanket and wrapped them in the warmth of the towel.

"My mom told me to come back," Briony whispered. "She said I was going to be a mother too, that I can't go there..."

Stella dropped her gaze, pressing her lips together to keep them from trembling. The corners of her eyes turned red.

Briony's voice cracked, breaking into a choked whisper. She closed her eyes, and her final words escaped like a sigh, "But... I'm just so tired..."

Her lashes fluttered shut, and a hot tear traced down her cheek.

She slipped back into unconsciousness.

Outside, night had fully settled in.

p.m. in

Briony's temperature again—finally normal. She exhaled, her

and emotional strain, and now, with Briony's pregnancy making

Knock, knock.

on

peeked through the peephole, and

holding a takeout

box from him, glancing up

at dinner, so I just ate downstairs and grabbed

asked, "How is

furrowed. "Dr. Clarke, please— when Stewart gets back, you have to make sure he ends things completely with Bryn. She's suffered

solemnly.

...

Briony's fever

side until well past midnight, only allowing herself a brief nap when

the sheer curtains, filling

of year, the capital-Accra-hovered around 80 degrees during the day. The

opened her