How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue novel Chapter 656

Esmeralda genuinely didn’t want Elodie to get tangled up with Jarrod any further, especially not with something like this. In her mind, the outcome was already set—this child would never be born.

Why make things more complicated?

Elodie had long since made up her mind. She shook her head lightly. “No need. Let’s just pretend none of this ever happened.”

For one thing, their paths were clearly destined to part. For another, her health wouldn’t allow this child to survive. Telling him would only create more trouble—whether it was the push and pull of whether to keep the baby or the mess of her illness coming to light. She was done with unnecessary complications.

There was no reason for Jarrod to know.

Her body, her decision—the choice was entirely hers.

Only then did Elias glance at Elodie, his expression briefly softening. Just as he’d suspected, there were bigger problems between her and Jarrod than anyone let on.

“I know things must feel complicated right now,” Elias said gently. “Don’t worry. Take your time, get your head straight, and when you’re ready, we’ll schedule with gynecology to take care of things.” He wasn’t about to pressure her—once she’d decided on the procedure, it wouldn’t have much impact on her future health.

“Thank you.” Elodie kept her eyes lowered, her body wracked with chills, though her face betrayed nothing.

But inside, the pain was deep and abiding.

She’d hoped and waited for so long. None of it happened overnight.

But the child had come at the worst possible time.

She had no way to keep this baby.

And she would need time—time to accept reality.

“I have some urgent work deadlines coming up,” she said after a moment. “If I have the procedure right now, I’m worried I won’t be able to handle the workload afterward. I’d like to wait two more weeks and get through this first phase before scheduling the surgery.”

She’d just started her new job at 719, and with her cancer on top of this, if she added the procedure now, she’d almost certainly end up bedridden.

If she could just finish this first round of work, she’d have a window to recover.