A Second Chance at Forever

Chapter 1477
Garrett’s gaze lingered on Eleanor’s eyes, reflections of his own face staring back at him. He was spellbound, but painfully aware
that she was no longer his. Suppressing the stirrings of his heart, he managed a strained whisper, “No, it’s not.”
If it wasn’t his child, then it had to be Bernard’s-a name foreign to her. Eleanor struggled with the thought, “Didn’t we promise to
be together forever? How did we drift apart?”
Hailey had called Bernard her husband, and the doctors referred to Mr. Laurence in the same way. But in her heart, she had
always longed for Garrett. How had it come to pass that she ended up with someone else?
Garrett’s fingers, held tight by Eleanor, slowly curled inward. After an internal battle, he gently eased her grip away. “It’s because
I stopped loving you...”
Despite her amnesia and the vague awareness that much had happened during the time she was sleeping, Eleanor’s heart
broke at his words. “Garrett, you promised to love me forever. I can’t believe that excuse.”
I will always love you, but you won’t.
Garrett’s unspoken truth hung heavy in the air as he comforted her, “You met someone who loves you more. When he returns,
you’ll understand why we parted.”
As Eleanor digested this revelation, her gaze fell and she murmured, “So I fell for someone else, and that’s why we parted.”
Garrett’s lips parted, about to speak, when a tall figure staggered into the room, propped up by Aidyn and Scott.
Bernard was not informed by Hailey, but by the doctor. Bernard, who had been kneeling in prayer, pleading with the heavens,
struggled to his feet with the help of his friends when he heard Eleanor had awakened.
The doctor hadn’t mentioned Eleanor’s amnesia to Bernard, only that she had woken up. As Bernard saw her conscious for the
first time in months, the tension that had gripped him dissipated, and hope rekindled in his weary eyes.
Shrugging off the support of Aidyn and Scott, he stood firm against the door frame, ignoring the pain in his knees as he
approached Eleanor.
His trembling fingers reached for Eleanor’s cheek, and upon feeling her warmth, a relieved smile broke across his face. “Eleanor,
you’re finally awake.”

His emotions surged uncontrollably as he bent down to embrace and kiss her. But before his lips could meet her forehead, she
pushed him away in panic.
“I... I don’t know you.”
Bernard froze, hands bracing against the bed as if he might collapse. “You... don’t remember me?”
Eleanor had guessed he was the Bernard everyone spoke of, but she felt only alienation. She couldn’t fathom why she would
have married him, let alone had a child with him.
“She’s lost her memory,” Garrett explained, “her recollections halt before she turned eighteen.”
As Bernard’s gaze shifted, intending to glance at Garrett, he instead saw their entwined hands. Eleanor clung to Garrett as if her
life depended on it.
Bernard’s joy ebbed away as he gazed at their hands, a chill seeping through him. “So she remembers you, but not me?” Garrett
didn’t respond, but the sight of Eleanor’s grip on him spoke volumes. Bernard’s lips twitched into a despairing, tremulous smile
as the reality sank in, “Why...?”
Why did Eleanor’s memory, upon awakening, cling to the time filled with Garrett, forsaking his own existence? Was he not the
one she truly loved deep down?
“I’m sorry.” Eleanor’s apology came from a place of guilt, for she remembered nothing of him.
Bernard, like a statue, remained by the bed. Beneath him lay the woman he had loved for years, who now, devoid of memory,
apologized to him.
He forced a painful smile, refusing to show weakness before another man, no matter the agony.
“It’s okay...” He smiled through the hurt, “As long as you’re awake and well. It’s okay if you don’t remember me...”