Chapter 68: Piecing It Together

The dull dimness of dawn penetrated the blinds to find Nathan Carter just as it had left him uncounted hours before, slumped in the armchair, the half-empty bottle of scotch on the side table, his mind filled with a storm of memories. He hadn't slept, and it seemed he wouldn't, not with the burden of his new knowledge pressing down upon him like a physical force. Olivia had cancer. She had been fighting for her life, while he had been doing what, exactly? Had he been wallowing in self-pity? Making grand gestures of supposed noble sacrifice at her expense? A bitter irony that had him desiring nothing else but to laugh and cry at the same time. As Nathan gazed out at the lightening sky, pieces of conversation, momentary flashes of looks, and subtle changes in Olivia's behavior over the last months began to sort or click into place in his mind—much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Rodrigue realized that, of course, he had overstated his case andand noticed all the glaring signs he'd