After the Clouds

Winona Warren never imagined that on her birthday, her son would hand her a walnut cake that could kill her.

As her consciousness began to blur, she heard Asher Rhodes' furious voice. "Carter, don't you know your mother is allergic to walnuts?"

Carter Rhodes' childish voice rang out with startling clarity. "I do. But I want Ella to be my mom instead. Dad, you want that too, don't you? Even if I..."

A crushing wave of suffocation overwhelmed Winona before she could hear the rest of Asher's answer.

In the second before she completely lost consciousness, Winona had only one thought. If she woke up, she would never be Asher's wife or Carter's mother again.

After five hours in the emergency room, Winona Warren's condition finally stabilized.

When she regained consciousness, every breath brought pain. Her entire face was swollen beyond recognition.

She struggled to open her eyes and instinctively searched for two familiar figures, but the hospital ward was empty.

Her phone sat on the cabinet beside her. She tried to lift her arm to reach it, but the distance was too far. Just as she attempted to push herself up, a nurse entered to change her IV and quickly stopped her.

"You just got out of the ER. You can't move around. Let me get that for you."

The nurse kindly handed her the phone while switching out the IV bag. "Don't you know you're severely allergic to walnuts? You need to remember this from now on—never eat anything with walnuts. You're lucky they brought you in when they did, or you'd be dead."

Winona did not know how to respond.

What was she supposed to say? That her son knew about her walnut allergy and deliberately chose a walnut cake anyway?

Her gaze fell on her body, covered in medical equipment. She forced the words out with difficulty. "Where are they?"

She could not bring herself to call Asher Rhodes and Carter Rhodes, her husband and son, right now.

The nurse paused for a moment before asking, "You mean your husband and son? They dropped you off, paid the bills, and left in a hurry. They said they had something to deal with. You should probably give them a call."

She muttered under her breath, "I don't know what could be more important than your own wife and mother. Hearts of stone."

The cutting words made Winona's chest ache. There was only one person who could make those two leave so quickly.

She opened her phone. Her chat with Asher was still nothing but the messages she sent.

She opened her social media app, and Ella Levine's post sat at the very top.

[Thanks to my two on-call heroes for saving me from a cockroach. A house really can't be without men.]

The attached photos showed Asher holding a broom, looking completely out of character as he caught a cockroach on the floor. Carter stood in front of Ella with his small arms spread wide, shielding her.