In the hospital room.
Seeing Justin Battleson again, Charlotte Thompson was slightly stunned.
Only after he left with Oliver Hudson did she slowly come back to reality.
Behind her, Olivia Thompson returned to her chair. She leant lightly against the edge of the bed, her hand holding Annie Anne's cold hand. Half-closed eyes betrayed her exhaustion.
It was now deep into the night. While the stars shone outside, the heavy rain had stopped. The faint, intermittently-arriving smell of fresh earth from the window gap brought a hint of chill.
Charlotte concealed her complex emotions, tiptoed to close the window tightly, and then pulled the curtain closed.
The quietness in the room was palpable, with the low, whispered voices from the corridor which echoed into the room, seemingly magnified many times over. Hearing the familiar voice, Charlotte's heartbeat missed a beat,