Carrie stormed in, eyes bloodshot, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me toward the door.
"I miscarried because you pushed me, and Graham's hurt too. How can you just lie here sleeping?"
I struggled, trying to explain. "I didn't push anyone. He threw himself into you on purpose—"
But Carrie shoved me into the car.
"That was his baby in my belly. Why would he do it on purpose?"
She locked the doors and floored it all the way to the hospital.
She forced me to my knees at the foot of Graham's hospital bed.
"Apologize to Graham. And swear you'll never interfere with me having his children again."
My kneecaps hit the ice-cold tile, and the pain and chill spread through my entire body.
I tried to stand, but Carrie's hand pressed down on my shoulder, pinning me in place.
"Cat got your tongue? Apologize to Graham. Now."
I fought through the discomfort and spoke, word by measured word.
"I didn't push him. If you don't believe me, go back and get the security footage from the neighbor's camera."
The camera mounted above the neighbor's front door would have captured every second of Graham's little performance.
But she didn't believe me.
"Wilfred, you have no idea how disappointed I am in you! Do you have any idea what your little shove did? You didn't just kill my baby with Graham—you may have ruined his chances of ever having children again!"
"He was generous enough not to press charges. All he asked for was an apology. What more do you want?"
"You took away his chance to be a father, so even if it kills me, I'm going to give him what he deserves! I'll marry you when I've given him a child. You owe him that much! Consider it compensation for selling off my company shares behind my back!"
Carrie—the woman who had always put her career above everything—had just ranked her thirty percent stake below Graham Simmons.
That was how deeply she loved him.
I laughed until tears blurred my vision, and finally managed three words:
"I'm sorry."
Carrie let go of me and helped me to my feet. Her expression was unreadable.
"I can't have you causing more trouble, so you'll have to bear with what comes next."
"And the miscarriage—you're not to breathe a word of it to anyone."
It wasn't until I was locked inside a disused storage room in the hospital that I understood what she meant by bear with it.
She left to hold her wedding with Graham.