“My baby?” she whispered at the first nurse who came to check in on her.

“I’m sorry,” she said, genuine concern coming through despite a heavy accent. “I’m so sorry.”

Ginger covered her mouth to stifle a sob.

Tears glistened in Shane’s eyes. “I should’ve known. I should’ve been there.”

“Don’t think about it anymore. I’ve come to peace with it.” Debbie had helped. Her mother had also had a few miscarriages, and she’d done everything she could to comfort Ginger while they were in Amsterdam.

Babies are heaven’s gift. Sometimes the gods feel sad about life’s suffering and take them back before they reach this world. It’s never about you or your circumstances. Your baby’s back in heaven, sound and happy. When it’s your time, you’ll see him. Or her. And they’ll recognize you and love you because you’re the only person they’ve been intimately connected to.

“You’re a cruel woman, Ginger,” Shane said. “It’s like you know all the ways to punish me.”

“Shane, I didn’t do this to punish you.”

“I remember the photos,” he said, his voice wooden. “I tried to verify them. Everyone said they were authentic. But I had no idea they would trace back to me if anybody were to check.” His jaw bunched. “I didn’t think to check. I couldn’t even acknowledge their existence without wondering what if. What if you told me they were real or that you wanted to leave me? That you didn’t think it would work anyway. That I would end up like my dad. And if I begged you to stay with me, you would, but only to be like my mom—with all those other men to give you what I couldn’t.”

She reached out. He pulled away.

“I want to rest,” Shane said, his voice without inflection. “The doctor said I should relax and focus on recovery.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.” He stared resolutely out the window. “Just…go.” He turned, his shoulders angling away from her.

Tears flowed silently down her cheeks. She couldn’t seem to draw in any air as the memory of her loss and the image of Shane with his back turned away from her cut into her heart like a shard of diamond.

It was over. There was too much hurt and pain and regret, and she just didn’t know how to go back and undo it all.

She pulled off her engagement ring and put it on the bedside table. She’d known it would come to something like this when he regained his memory…and the truth about why he left was exposed. But this was so much worse. It wasn’t because they didn’t love each other or care. The pain and hurt and circumstances just made it impossible for them to stay together.

Ginger managed to walk out. The door closed behind her with a soft click. Her knees felt like rubber, and she started to collapse. A pair of strong arms caught her.

“You okay?”

She looked up. Iain. Of course. Vanessa and Justin stood next to him. Tear tracks were ruining Vanessa’s perfect makeup, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m fine,” Ginger said. “Thank you.”

“Ginger, I can’t even…” Vanessa covered her mouth. “Oh my god, I’m such a bitch.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I’m still a bitch.” Vanessa hugged Ginger. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Ginger hugged her back, oddly comforted by the touch. But that wasn’t enough to stop the tears flowing down her cheeks. Or her heart from breaking all over again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“You absolutely have to stop moping.”

Shane glared at Vanessa. “And you have to stop nagging.”

“You were discharged a week ago, and you’ve been stuck in this penthouse ever since. It’s ridiculous, even for an artiste type like you.”

“They had to cut a section of my hair for the stitches,” he said. “I’m not going out looking like Frankenstein.”

“It’s grown back.”

“Not enough. It still shows.”

“Then shave your head!” Vanessa threw her hands in the air, pacing back and forth across his living room in her impractical high heels. “You can’t just stay holed up here anymore. I won’t allow it. I insist you go and do something about the situation with Ginger.”

“Why the fuck would I want to do that?” he said, feeling the weight of the engagement ring in his pocket.

She covered her belly with her hands. “You can’t use the f-word! My baby can hear it.” Then she suddenly stilled. “Oh my god.” She paled. “I’m sorry.”

“No. Stop. Don’t change because of me. I want you to be absolutely thrilled with your baby and show it.”

“Shane…”

“You owe me that much for being a pain in the ass while we were growing up.” He was happy for Vanessa and excited about his nephew. He wasn’t going to let the news of Ginger’s miscarriage diminish his sister’s joy. It was his to bear. “I’ll stop cursing if you’ll stop nagging.”

Vanessa sat next to him on the couch and took his hand. “Shane. Don’t you want to find out who sent you the pictures?”

“Ginger already tried. She said they came back to me.”

“That’s the weird thing. You didn’t send them, right?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s what I thought. So who did? Whoever’s behind this did it on purpose to put a wedge between you and Ginger. They need to pay.” She tightened her mouth. “If you won’t investigate, then I will. I’m going to unleash everything I got.”

“You mean Barron Sterling? You’re going to ask him for a baby christening gift, and it’s going to be to seek out and destroy whoever sent the photos?”

“Maybe.” She flushed. “Hey, he’s family too. Besides, nobody knows revenge like Barron.”

“Yeah, because that old man’s a psycho. You’re marrying into a psycho family.”

Vanessa made a face. “He’s not a psycho. He’s actually kind of nice.”

“Of course, he is. He does everything you want him to so long as you pat your belly while you ask.”

She gave him a withering look. “Back to the photos. Don’t let them get away with it.”

Shane squeezed her hand and looked at the picture of Ginger he’d placed on the mantel. She was smiling in that sunny way of hers. Seeing it never failed to brighten his day, no matter how foul a mood he was in. Now he’d never see it again.

He hadn’t done anything about the photos, and felt a vague lack of energy about them at this point. Nothing would change even if he found out who was responsible. Punishment would have been icing on the cake, but what was the point if there was no cake? If he couldn’t turn back the clock…

On the other hand, Vanessa was right. It wasn’t good for him to turn into a hermit, and he wanted to know who’d wrecked his and Ginger’s life together. And the baby…

He closed his eyes at the pain. It gutted him to think about the tiny life that never even got a chance. If Ginger hadn’t had to make that long, arduous flight, or suffered such shock and stress, would their baby have been born by now?

He opened his eyes. “You know what? That’s a great idea. I’m going to get whoever this motherfuc—uh, bad guy—is, and serve his head on a silver platter to Ginger.”

* * *

Ginger had huge amounts of work to do, but for some reason she couldn’t muster the motivation. She changed the wording on her website to indicate she was fully booked for the next six weeks and hit “publish.”

She couldn’t look at the happy couples and pretend she was thrilled to be there anymore. If that made her a horrible person, so be it. But that was probably better than crying. She’d do the weddings she’d already booked, but that was it.

She closed her laptop and stared at the ceiling. It’d been over a week now, but Shane was constantly on her mind. Every day the memory of him seemed to grow stronger, more vivid. And the pain in her chest would intensify and pulse through her body.