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ruined it! I don’t need you coming here and making me feel bad for something that was an accident. Perhaps it was the final straw and this really means Colin and I aren’t meant to be. I don’t know but what I do understand is that you being here, crowding me, trying to make me feel something I can’t at the moment isn’t helping. I know I am being rude but can the both of you just go?”
    Caitlyn stared at me wide-mouthed though she said nothing and moments later, a nurse came in and didn’t give her the opportunity. “Ms. Bardot has experienced a traumatic incident and she needs her rest. I am afraid visiting hours have been cut off for her and you will have to come back tomorrow.”
    “Deirdre, this isn’t over,” my sister finally murmured to me before she and Liam followed the nurse out.
    It was only then I felt slightly bad about my decision. I didn’t have a chance to see Drew or Aubrey and I very much wanted to visit with them. Oh well, I thought, tomorrow was another day.

     

     
    As fate would have it, I didn’t end up seeing Drew or Aubrey while I was in the hospital. I was released two days after my confrontations with Colin, Liam and Caitlyn. The nurse had reported the incidents to Dr. Evers and she quickly set up a no-visitor’s policy for me due to the “emotional trauma” I’d experienced with the miscarriage.
    “I’m not an idiot. I know that one guy—the blond—was an ex-fiancé of some sort and I can’t have you under any additional pressure or stress. It could cause you to hemorrhage again and that would be a disaster.” Dr. Evers stared at me with a look of intense sympathy. “I pride my skills as a talented physician and I am quite happy you’re still able to conceive but if something was to happen and I had to clean you up, I would never forgive myself. You are much too young to go through a hysterectomy…not to mention what it would do to your self-esteem. Women always believe children aren’t that important until they are told they can no longer have them ever…at least not naturally.”
    After her speech, I didn’t fight any of her advice and was perfectly happy without having visitors at the hospital. I managed to speak to my mother on the phone who apologized about not being able to show up but she sounded terrible and I clearly worried about her state of being. Perhaps losing Dad was too much for her and the thought of living a life without him was too much to take.
    Jeanette, my mother, had adopted me when I was a toddler, and although she was Caitlyn’s biological mother, she wasn’t mine. However since she’d raised me due to the premature death of my real mother at a very young age, I still considered her my mom in every sense of the word.
    Drake showed up nice and early to help me get ready and drive me back to the condo on the day I was discharged. To say I was taken aback to see him yet again and so soon was the understatement of the year.
    “How did you know I was being released today?” I inquired in complete and utter surprise.
    “I have actually become quite chatty with your friend, Drew, and your cousin, Aubrey. Are they together? She’s stunning and yes, I can see the family resemblance.”
    I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the plastic bag he handed to me. “Yeah right. We look nothing alike. She is this stunning brunette with blue eyes men die for and, if I’m not mistaken, I believe she’s dyed her hair auburn. Regardless, she is a walking sex symbol. I don’t doubt my ‘sex appeal’ according to my ‘inner goddess’ but I am no Aubrey—that’s for sure.”
    Drake’s pale greenish blue eyes studied me with stunning intensity that was so electric, I could almost see the air around us generate excitement and heat. “Listen, I didn’t go through your closet. Drew and Aubrey got here too late and I let them stay at my place. Aubrey actually bought the clothes yesterday and we thought you wouldn’t mind…”
    I pulled out a pair of pink