Her Reluctant Wife: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

promise me if he says you need tests, you’ll find somewhere to

go for them. I’ll go with you if you want.” If that was the price

she had to pay for the necklace, then so be it. “I’ll be there.

You won’t be alone.”

“Okay.” Giana was retreating again, going back behind that

façade, getting ready to face whatever was coming. “Okay.”

That was how Coralyn left her. With regret lashing at her

and grief already gnawing at her bones. She drove straight to

the hospital, her heart heavy. She was in turmoil. She’d never

felt so ripped apart or confused. She couldn’t stop thinking

about her mom. About her dad. About all that pain that was

just waiting for her, fresh waves waiting to drown her.

She was met outside her dad’s room by another nurse, older

this time. Graying hair in a bun. Blue scrubs immaculate. No

makeup on her face, and it was pulled into a grimace of

sympathy.

Coralyn’s heart plummeted and panic took over, fresh and

acute and aching. She wanted to scream again. She wanted to

cry. She couldn’t do either. She couldn’t move. She was

trapped, a statue as her world was falling down around her.

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said. “We tried calling you.”

“Wh-what?” Coralyn wrenched her phone out of her purse.

She’d put it on silent before she’d gone into the meeting in

Giana’s office. There were five missed calls from the hospital.

All that time she’d been with Giana, they’d been trying to call.

“No!” Then a wordless, soundless scream tore from her throat

and past her parted lips. The tears were gathering, heavy,

dragged out by her worst fears.

“You’re not too late,” the nurse assured her, placing a kind

hand on her shoulder to steady her. Coralyn didn’t realize she