Hope Awakened by Charlene Hartnady

 

Chapter 1

Seven months later…

“I’ll seeyou in a week, Mr. and Mrs. Simons,” Hope said, smiling at her patient, who put a hand on her heavily rounded belly. Hope felt an instant pang as she watched the woman’s hand move in a lazy circle. Hope should have been pregnant by now, or at least trying hard to make it happen. That was her plan…their plan. Her life was all mapped out. How had things taken such a wrong turn?

“Thanks so much for everything. We can’t wait to meet our daughter.” Mr. Simons took his wife’s hand and looked at her with such love. Hurt bubbled to the surface, making Hope clutch her chest with one hand to try to quell the emotion. Her heart tightened, and she had to look away from the happy couple. At that moment, Hope realized that her ex had never looked at her like that. It was an upsetting thought. What was even more alarming was that she didn’t think that anyone had ever looked at her like that.

I need to stop this pity party right now! she thought to herself.

What was there for her to say? Just like anyone in her situation, she had her good days and her bad days. She couldn’t help but get irritated with herself on the bad ones. At the same time, Hope realized that she had to cut herself some slack, otherwise, she’d go mad. After all, it had only been five months since she caught her husband cheating on her with her—

“Your eleven o’clock is here,” her receptionist, Sandy, said. “Mrs.—”

“Hi, sis.”

Hope felt her blood run cold. Even though it was the middle of summer and the AC wasn’t working optimally, she still felt a chill work its way down her spine. Gooseflesh broke out on her arms. With a lump in her throat, she glanced at her sister and then around the waiting room. There were several more patients already there. As much as she wanted to tell Lizzie to get lost, she couldn’t make a scene. Instead, Hope took the file from her receptionist without acknowledging her sister.

“Follow me,” she said as she walked into her office. She closed the door behind them and pulled in a deep breath.

“How are you keeping?” Lizzie asked. She had a sweet-looking smile on her lying, scheming face. There was nothing sweet about Lizzie.

“What do you want?” Hope folded her arms, realizing for the first time what Sandy had just said.

Mrs.

Her receptionist had definitely said ‘Mrs.’ before Lizzie cut her off.

“I, um…I…” Her sister took her bottom lip between her teeth and shoved some hair behind her ear.

Oh, my god!

Holy fucking shit!

Hope felt her blood go from cold to boiling hot in an instant. Her eyes were glued to the ring and wedding band on her sister’s finger. It was Emmet’s grandmother’s ring. The same one he’d given her all those years ago. Her eyes prickled, but she blinked back the tears. She’d be damned if she let her sister see her cry. Not happening! This was unreal.

“You and Emmet got married?” Hope said, her voice more even than it should have been, given the situation. “Our divorce was finalized a couple of weeks ago and you’ve already tied the knot? I mean, the ink was barely even dry.” There was an incredulous tone to her voice, but that couldn’t be helped.

“Um…yes. I’m so sorry. We…we got married.” Lizzie’s eyes fluttered closed, and she bowed her head.

“I don’t want your apologies, Elizabeth. Why are you here?”

“It’s Lizzie.” Her eyes flashed to Hope’s for a second before going to the shiny tiles at her feet. “Please call me Lizzie,” she whispered.

Hard ignore!Hope knew that it hurt her sister whenever she called her by her full first name, but she didn’t give a shit. It had hurt her far more when she found her sister in bed with her husband of over five years.

Emmet and Hope had fallen in love in high school, gotten engaged in her second year of residency, moved in together and were married a year and a half later. Everything was storybook. They were supposed to establish their careers first before starting a family. Emmet the lawyer and Hope the Ob-Gyn. The perfect couple. The perfect house. They were supposed to start trying for a baby once they had their careers up and running. Once they had the white picket fence. They would have been trying long before, if Emmet hadn’t made all of those excuses about why they needed to wait just a little longer. It wasn’t until Hope walked in on the reason for all of those excuses. Namely, Lizzie and Emmet were having an affair. It wasn’t just sex, and it wasn’t just the one time.

Her sister looked her in the eyes. “I tried to call you, but you wouldn’t answer. You haven’t read any of my messages. I tried to tell you about the wedding, Hope.”

“Can you blame me for ignoring you?” Hope frowned. “For not wanting to speak to you?”

“Please, Hope. I’m begging you to try to forgive us. We know it was wrong,” Lizzie pleaded. Her big brown eyes were filling with tears. Unfortunately for her sister, Hope had seen this all before and heard it all before. She was left cold by the display.

“You slept with my husband for eight months. The two of you went behind my back all of that time. You lied and cheated. The two most important people in my life…” Hope shook her head, feeling her throat clog and her eyes sting. She could still see them together in bed. Emmet making slow, passionate love to her sister. Betrayed by her two best friends. They were together in her bedroom…in her bed…their marriage bed. Some things were unforgivable.

“I know.” Lizzie held up her hands in defeat. “We did a terrible thing. A horrible…terrible thing. It was an accident… It just—”

“An accident?” Hope tried to keep her voice down. “Spare me the bull.” She pushed out a breath. “I’ve heard this all before. I don’t feel like having the same conversation all over again. I’m going to assume you came here to tell me about your marriage. Congratulations. The two of you deserve each other.” Hope couldn’t believe this was happening. She never thought that the relationship would last. Relationships born from lies and deceit hardly ever worked out. Yet, here they were…married. No! It was too much. “Now if you’ll excuse me I—”

“That’s not why I’m here.” Lizzie shook her head.

“You apologized; you can go.” Hope looked pointedly at the door.

“That’s not it either.” Her sister got a look in her eyes. Lizzie licked her lips and clasped her hands in front of her. She was nervous. What the hell could she possibly have to tell Hope that was worse than her and Emmet getting married?

There was nothing. There was—

Oh god!

That wasn’t true; there was one thing.

At least, only one she could think of.

No!

Surely not!

That would be cruel. It would be more than she could take.

It felt like a pile of lead landed in her stomach. Her mouth went dry. “It was a shotgun wedding?” Hope whispered. She felt her heart break as she looked into Lizzie’s eyes. She hadn’t thought that things could get any worse. She was so wrong. Her sister had taken her life…her dream…everything. It felt like she was drowning.

Her sister pulled in a deep breath. “It wasn’t a shotgun wedding.” Lizzie shook her head. “I am pregnant, though. I’m three months along.” She touched her belly in much the same way Mrs. Simons had, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

Hope wanted to punch her sister in the face. She wanted it so badly it scared her. Just like when she caught them in the act. If it weren’t for her sister being pregnant, Hope would do just that. As it was, she forced her hands to unclench. She worked hard at controlling herself, taking even breaths. “You told me. You can go now.” She gestured towards the door behind her sister. At least Hope would have fifteen minutes to pull herself together before her next appointment.

“I was hoping you would be my Ob-Gyn. Not just that, I want you to be the baby’s godmother. I want you back in my life, Hope. I miss you. Emmet misses you, too. As a friend, of course,” she quickly added.

Hope swallowed thickly, feeling ill. She tasted bile in the back of her throat. “I can’t!”

“Please,” Lizzie begged. “Do it for Mom and Dad. They’re in the middle of this. They miss you so much.”

“They took your side.”

“There are no sides, Hope. They want me to be happy…us to be happy. All three of us.”

Hope had nothing to say to that. She didn’t care what any of them wanted. She felt both sick to her stomach…and numb.

“They want you to be happy too,” Lizzie said.

“Funny way of showing it.” She couldn’t hold back.

“Please, Hope. Can we at least try to be a family again? Will you help me with this baby? I need you.”

“I can’t, even if I wanted to,” she said, a little too harshly. “I’m leaving at the end of the month. I’ve accepted a position elsewhere.”

“What?” Lizzie gasped, “Where? You’ve worked so hard to build your practice.” Her sister looked around them.

“I can’t say where I’m going,” Hope said. “I’ve signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

“A nondisclosure?” Her sister’s eyes widened. “That doesn’t sound right. Why would you have to sign a nondisclosure? You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m not at liberty to say.” Even if she were, she wouldn’t tell Lizzie. “I have a locum standing in for me here in case things don’t work out. I’m fine. Moving on with my life,” Hope lied. The fact of the matter was that she only made up her mind to take the position right then. She hadn’t been able to decide whether to uproot her whole world. Only now, she realized that she had nothing left here. No real reason to stay. Not anymore. Besides, it was a six-month contract. She’d come back when her heart was on the road to recovery. When she could deal with everything going on here. Hopefully, she’d reach a point where she didn’t want to punch her sister in the face anymore. Hope had a long way to go!

Grabbing the handle of the door, she opened it, standing to the side. “I wish you all the best, Mrs. Robertson.” It hurt her to say the words, but she forced them out. She was thankful that she’d reverted back to her maiden name. “I hope you and Emmet have a long, happy life together. Good luck with the baby.”

“You make it sound like we won’t see each other again.”

“If only that were true,” she muttered.

Lizzie’s face turned pink. “Don’t say that, Hope. I really am sorry. Emmet too. Please be careful.” Lizzie put a hand out to touch Hope, but she moved out of reach. Her sister held her gaze for a few moments before she finally turned and walked away.

“I have a phone call I need to make,” Hope said to Sandy. “Give me five minutes, please.”

“No problem, Doctor,” Sandy said, looking up from her computer.

Hope closed the door with a soft click and leaned back against the cool surface of the wood. It was difficult to hold back all the emotions inside her. Her eyes stung. Her throat had a lump in it the size of a small building…that’s how it felt. All of her muscles were clenched tight. She took a couple of deep breaths. This was not the day for tears. This was the day for action. The wallowing needed to stop. All of the self-pity, too.

Hope realized that if she stayed, she’d keep holding on to all the anger. All the hurt…the frustration…all the crippling pain and regret. Hope realized that it was time to act…it was time for a change. Although she didn’t have the full details for this assignment yet, it sounded interesting.