Chapter 2 - Camille Had Lied About Knowing Olivia
Grant did not allow the confrontation to continue inside the nursery.
Maisie came first.
Ruth carried the baby into the adjoining bedroom while Grant called estate security. The straightener remained untouched until appropriate staff secured the room.
Camille tried to follow.
Grant blocked the doorway with his wheelchair.
“No.”
“Grant, Ruth is confused.”
Ruth heard her.
“I’m not.”
Camille looked toward the older caregiver.
Ruth’s cheek was swollen from the slap, but her voice remained steady.
“You had darker hair then.”
Camille laughed nervously.
“There were hundreds of people in that hospital.”
“Not in Mrs. Olivia’s private room.”
Grant stared at his wife.
“You told me you never met Olivia.”
“I didn’t know her.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Camille’s mouth tightened.
Grant repeated it.
“You told me you had never met her.”
Camille looked toward the open bedroom door where Maisie’s cries were beginning to soften against Ruth’s shoulder.
“Maybe I saw her once.”
Ruth shook her head.
“No.”
The certainty in her voice silenced everyone.
Ruth remembered the night because Olivia had already been exhausted after a difficult delivery. Grant had stepped out briefly to speak with the physician. Ruth remained in the private suite.
A woman entered carrying white orchids.
No visitor badge.
No family member beside her.
Olivia saw her and immediately stiffened.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Then anger.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Those were Olivia’s exact words.
The woman answered:
“I only want five minutes.”
Olivia said:
“I told you before. Stay away from my family.”
Ruth had moved toward the call button.
The woman noticed.
She left before hospital security arrived.
At the time Ruth did not know her name.
The night turned chaotic soon afterward when Olivia’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
By dawn, the stranger with the orchids became a meaningless detail inside the worst night of Grant’s life.
Until now.
Grant looked at Camille.
“Was that you?”
Camille did not answer.
That was answer enough.
He felt something shift inside him.
Not proof she had anything to do with Olivia’s death.
Nothing Ruth remembered suggested that.
But Camille had lied about something fundamental.
She knew Olivia.
Olivia knew her.
And Olivia wanted her nowhere near the family.
Grant’s voice went quiet.
“Who were you to my wife?”
Camille looked at the floor.
Then said:
“Someone she hated.”
Ruth immediately corrected her.
“No.”
Camille looked up.
May you like
Ruth’s expression hardened.
“She was afraid of you.”
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