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"Eden did not mean to imply any such thing," Phillippa said. "I'm sure she spoke merely out of surprise."
"We all know you have been a good friend to Aristide as well as an employee," Sebastian added in a soothing voice.
Eden felt like a monster, even though she knew it was all nothing more than a cleverly portrayed act. Kassandra's place within the Kouros clan was unassailable. No one saw her manipulations for what they were, but Eden was heartily tired of being wrong-footed by the Greek paragon.
Stubbornly determined not to apologize when she was not in the wrong, Eden inclined her head to Kassandra. The Greek woman made no effort to move, so Eden stepped around her in order to see Aristide properly. But she pulled up short at the total lack of recognition in her husband's brilliant blue eyes.
"Who are you and where do you get off censuring Kassandra for being here?"
The angry words whirled around in her head and she felt as if she'd taken a body blow. "W-what?"
He turned his irate gaze to his brother. "Who the hell is this, Sebastian? She's not Rachel and that's the only woman that should be hanging on to your arm like it's a lifeline."
Even sitting in the hospital bed having just woken from a coma, Aristide's powerful vitality emanated in waves from his tall, muscular body. His genuine lack of recognition was just as palpable a force.
"You don't know who I am?" she asked faintly.
"No. Should I?" he demanded. "I do not appreciate you coming into my room and upsetting my visitors."
Someone gasped. She thought it might have been Phillippa, but she couldn't turn her head to find out. She was paralyzed with shock and reeling inside from a pain she'd never expected to feel. She swayed on her feet, her vision blurring as her skin grew clammy with shock.
"He doesn't remember me," she said to no one in particular, the words coming out in a whisper as her body sagged against her brother-in-law.
Strong hands stopped her fall, but that was the last thing she remembered until she woke in her bed some minutes later.
Phillippa was standing over her, worry etched in her beautiful Greek features. "Eden?"
"Why didn't you tell me he has amnesia?" she asked painfully. "I could have—" She bit off the words before revealing her pregnancy.
"We didn't know he did. He talked about Theo just as he always does…he knew all of us."
"So, it's only me he doesn't remember? That makes no sense. How can he remember his son and not the woman who gave birth to him?"
Adam put down her wrist after checking her pulse. "Apparently, it wasn't something he thought about until his family explained who you are."
That didn't ring true. Aristide wouldn't let that kind of inconsistency in his memory stand, but then he'd only woken from his coma forty-five minutes before she'd entered his room.
"He's confused."
"Yes."
"I'm sure he'll remember me now."
The doctor shook his head and Phillippa's eyes filled with tears. "He refused to believe us when we told him that you are his wife."
Eden couldn't breathe. She moaned, her head thrashing from side to side. "No…he has to remember me."
"Confusion and a temporary loss of memory are not uncommon side effects with a head injury like he sustained in the accident." Adam gripped her hand with both urgency and reassurance, his kindness warming her. "And it's still not a good idea to allow yourself to become upset."
"My husband refuses to believe I am his wife and you expect me to stay calm?" she demanded, shaken to her soul by the implications of Aristide's memory loss.
"I'm sorry," the doctor said before insisting on giving her a pregnancy-safe sedative so she would sleep.
She woke the next morning, remembering the horror of being the only person her husband had forgotten.
When the doctor came in for rounds, he told her that Aristide's head injury didn't explain the selective amnesia. "It doesn't fit with any of the usual patterns for post-head-trauma amnesia."
"I see. Have you been able to convince him of who I am?"
"Your brother-in-law took that job on before I had a chance to tell him not to." The doctor looked less than pleased by that state of affairs.
"Why would you want to wait?"
"We don't know what's causing the lack of memory, but any emotional upheaval is risky for an amnesia patient."
"And did learning he has a wife he doesn't remember upset him?" she couldn't help asking.
"Not that we could tell." Adam sighed, as if realizing the news would be unwelcome to her. "Apparently, now that he's had time to think about it, the knowledge makes the existence of his son more sensible to him."
That sounded like Aristide.
"Does he want to see me?"
"He's trying to come to terms with his memory loss."
"What does that mean?" She couldn't take it in. "Are you saying he doesn't want to see me?" That was completely out of character for her husband.
He always wanted every piece of information concerning any situation. For him not to want to see her felt like the most directed of rejections, no matter what he could or could not remember.
"Not at present, no."
Pain coalesced inside her at the confirmation until there was a knot of it where her heart should be. "And Kassandra?"
"Do you mean Miss Helios?"
"Yes."
"She's a frequent visitor. I understand she is an old family friend who works for him."
The monitor beside the bed started beeping and Adam's pale gaze sharpened with concern. "You need to remain calm. The news is disconcerting, I know…but, given enough time, he will remember you. It may even be sooner than later. You are not out of the woods yet, though. You still have a concussion and your baby is doing well, but an emotional trauma on top of the physical one could be devastating to your pregnancy."
"I'm sure you are right." But she didn't know how to stop herself from being upset.
If she'd ever needed proof positive that Aristide didn't love her and had stayed in their marriage for their son's sake, she had it now. He remembered everyone but the wife he obviously wished he could forget.
Correction.. .had forgotten.
Three days later, Eden couldn't stand waiting any longer and decided to visit her husband in his hospital room even though he'd made no indication he wanted to see her.
She'd checked out of the hospital the day before with a clean bill of health and been told that normal activity should not put her baby at risk. The doctor had even made the joke that a little stress wouldn't hurt the baby, so it was safe to go home and be a full-time mom to her nine-month-old again.
She hadn't been able to laugh. Her relief at her own restored health was heavily tempered by Aristide's continued memory loss.
She'd dressed with care for this meeting. Eden's slight curves did not lend themselves to the kind of sexy apparel that looked good on so many other women, but she had done her best with what she had.
She wasn't showing her pregnancy yet and, if it followed the path of the one she'd had with Theo, there would be very little outward evidence until her fifth month. So, she'd opted to don a figure-hugging dress in gray-blue cashmere with long sleeves and a skirt that stopped well above her knee. Aristide had said it was one of his favorites and she didn't get to wear it often in Greece. It was too warm.
Her shoes were basic black pumps, but their three-inch heels made her legs look longer. Five feet five might be average for a woman's height, but Eden often felt like a shrimp around the much taller Aristide.
She pushed his private room's door open without knocking and was greeted by a tableau to make any wife's heart catch in her chest. Kassandra sat on the bed, coaxing Aristide to eat his lunch.
Eden could not believe the pain she felt at the cozy scene. Aristide had not asked to see her, effectively banning her from his room by his silence, while Kassandra was not only welcome, but welcome to behave toward him with an intimacy that should have been reserved for his wife.
It should have been her sitting on that bed, but Aristide hadn't wanted her and the knowledge hurt beyond bearing. Once again, she had been relegated to a secondary role in his life and knowing he didn't remember her only exacerbated the pain, not lessened it.
Even worse, he had forgotten the child she carried, as if the reminder of how inexorably their lives were linked was something he could not bear. She felt as if someone had taken a shredder to her emotions and she had no idea how to find any sort of happiness again.
They both looked up at her entrance, neither registering the slightest guilt, and anger washed over her. "I didn't realize your assistant's duties ran to playing nursemaid."
