A pair of serious brown eyes watched Caroline with so much hurt you would think that the blonde had single-handedly ruined their life.
And since those eyes belonged to Kate's mother, Caroline conceded that she probably had a point.
The second the headmistress had entered the ward, her stomach had dropped at the sight of Ginika sat before her, protectively clasping her daughter's hand.
It had not occurred to Caroline that the older woman would arrive so quickly. She had hoped to have more time to prepare; to somehow find the words to justify her recent behaviour, as well as a means to comfort someone else when it was already taking unbelievable self-control just to stay sane herself.
As she paused to take a steadying breath, the blonde's eyes swept the room; Kate looked exactly the same as she had before Caroline had sprinted home to haphazardly throw some belongings into an overnight bag - that is to say, awful.
She was still bandaged, still bruised, and still woefully frail in the massive hospital bed.
Sitting beside her, Ginika looked exactly as you would expect an elderly woman to look if she had been phoned in the middle of the night, told that her only child had been in a life threatening accident, and then urgently boarded a trans-Atlantic flight to another continent.
Her purple blouse was rumpled from the long journey and there were dark circles under her eyes, but most striking was the worry etched deep into the creases of her face.
In short, Ginika looked as emotionally and physically drained as Caroline felt. Yet there was a defiant set to her jaw that let the blonde know she was ready to take on anyone in her path. Particularly the snooty headmistress responsible for stomping on her daughter's heart.
Caroline readjusted the overnight bag on her shoulder, steeled herself and stepped into the room.
"Ginika, I am so glad you are here."
There was a single nod in response as the older woman watched Caroline slip the bag onto the floor and hold out her hand in greeting.
Reluctantly, the brunette shook it, "Of course. As soon as I got your call I boarded the next plane out of JFK."
With that she turned her gaze back to Kate, "My poor baby."
Her voice cracked as she reached out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her daughter's ear. Caroline's stomach flipped when she realised it was still matted with blood.
Feeling vaguely nauseous she sank into the opposite chair and wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach.
"I am so sorry, Ginika," she offered, fixing the older woman with desperate blue eyes.
There was a shrug as Ginika met her gaze, "I warned my daughter you might break her heart," she replied, dark eyes softening ever so slightly as she turned her focus back to Kate, "but even you aren't responsible for this."
As Caroline watched the other woman fluffing pillows and smoothing the bedsheet, she let out a shaky sigh, "Maybe not directly, but Kate put herself in danger to protect Lawrence."
She gave a tiny, rueful smile, "Your daughter always seems to come to the rescue in my family."
Caroline's gaze dropped to her knees, "I should have treated her better," she admitted in a small voice.
Ginika raised an eyebrow, eyes never leaving her daughter, "Yes. You should have," she finished simply, and suddenly the blonde felt as though she was being dismissed.
She stood and cleared her throat, "Can I get you anything? It must have been a long flight."
Ginika ran her thumb over the back of Kate's hand, "I just want to stay here for a while," she replied, giving Kate a small smile she could not return, "In case she needs me."
Caroline nodded and glanced around the room in search of something to do, "I'll go and visit Flora – give you some space."
The older woman glanced up in surprise, "I didn't think you would want to see the baby?"
Caroline felt her cheeks redden. She ran a hand through her tangled hair as she sought the right words.
"I realise that I behaved badly when Kate was pregnant. I was selfish and a complete coward."
She paused to check that Ginika was listening because she wanted there to be no doubting her sincerity, "But now that Flora is here I really do want take care of her until Kate can do it herself."
Ginika considered this for a moment and shrugged, "Well I am here for both of them now, so you needn't concern yourself if it is too much trouble."
Caroline's heart lurched at the idea of being so summarily dismissed and she slowly sat back down, realising for the first time the extent of the power that Ginika now held.
She smoothed an invisible crease from her skirt as she fought to keep desperation out of her voice, "I accept that I behaved horribly, but I never stopped caring about Kate. Whether we are together or not, she was hurt helping my family and I want to be here for her until she wakes up."
The blonde waved her hand dismissively, "Even if when she does she just tells me to sod off."
Ginika gave a tiny smile and watched Caroline rub her tired eyes before continuing, "God knows she has every right to!" she gave a hollow laugh, "I wish she would wake up right now so I could tell her what a complete bloody idiot I've been."
A knot of fear twisted in Caroline's gut as she laid all her cards on the table, "As for your granddaughter; Kate would be thrilled with every tiny piece of her. She is absolutely perfect and she's been the only thing making the situation bearable."
There was an awkward pause, "I suppose what I'm saying is that I would love to carry on seeing Flora."
Ginika opened her mouth but Caroline could already see the scepticism in her face and cut across her, "What I mean is, I would like to…help you with everything…including Flora, if you will let me?"
Those serious brown eyes were still watching Caroline, but this time the hostility was gone and their expression was harder to read.
The headmistress felt the familiar sensation of being considered; weighed up. Obviously Kate's talent for reading people had been inherited.
Eventually, the older woman spoke, "I spent the whole flight over here planning how I would juggle raising my granddaughter while caring for my daughter."
Her eyes flicked over to Kate and closed briefly, "Or arriving…" She took a shaky breath and forced herself to continue, "Or arriving to find that my little girl was gone and I would have to look after her baby forever."
Caroline caught a glimpse of the desperate mother bubbling beneath Ginika's composed surface.
"But not once did I worry about having to do all that alone, even at my age, because you never abandon family."
The words hit Caroline like a punch to the gut and her cheeks flamed at the rebuke.
Ginika raised her hands helplessly, "I will stay here for as many weeks as I can, but eventually I am going to have to go back to the States."
She paused as if assessing the impact of her words on the blonde, "I was thinking of taking Flora with me."
"To America?!" Caroline cut in, eyes widening.
Ginika sighed, "If Kate remains too sick to care for her, then I will need to have Flora with me."
She reached out and squeezed Kate's hand, "I would never abandon my daughter, but I have commitments at home. I would bring Flora back here as much as possible."
She shrugged, "Perhaps I could even raise enough money to fly Kate back with me. Or find enough to keep us all here for longer," she rubbed at her temples, "All I can say is that I will stay for as long as possible before I make a decision."
Caroline looked at the other woman in disbelief, not even attempting to hide her horror, "Ginika, I know this isn't my place, but Kate needs to have Flora here forever, not just for a few months! I have been thinking of ways that I could help. I have already booked emergency leave from work."
The headmistress waved her hand dismissively, "Not that any of that matters, I'd quit my bloody job if they had a problem with it. I have a spare room that Kate was already planning to use as a nursery before we broke up, and I am more than happy to let both you and Flora stay for as long as you need."
Ginika shook her head, "Kate is living in my ex-husband's house and I would rather stay there - It's closer to the hospital and it means that when she comes home I can help her more easily."
Caroline nodded vaguely, feeling completely defeated, but the older woman was watching her carefully, "You know what my daughter said when she called to tell me about you?"
Caroline shook her head, still reeling from the previous conversation and thrown slightly off kilter by the sudden change of subject.
Ginika gave a tiny smile, "She phoned me up and she said, 'Mum, I'm dating someone.' And from the way she paused I knew then what she was going to say. She said 'It's a woman.' She paused again and then said, 'She is called Caroline, she's my boss and she has some serious control issues'."
Caroline breathed a small laugh in spite of herself. She looked at Kate lying unconscious before her, beautiful caramel skin marred darker by bruising and scabbed blood. She looked so lost, despite having her mother's fingers entwined in hers, and Caroline's heart cracked.
Ginika adjusted Kate's sheets as she continued, "'But she is funny and interesting and she makes me really happy. So I want you to be happy for me.'"
The woman shrugged. "So I was," she smiled, "It is easy to be happy if your children are happy. But when she pushed for this baby I warned her that it would be hard for you. That you already had your family. And she said not to worry, because you had promised to support her."
Caroline's eyes dropped back to her hands. She picked at her thumb nail guiltily as she listened.
"Then everything went wrong, and I knew that I had been right to have reservations…But the nurses here say you have switched between sitting with Kate and sitting with the baby for 12 hours straight."
She paused and Caroline could feel dark eyes boring into her flushed face.
Ginika sighed and spread her palms out wide, "I suppose what I am saying is I cannot forgive you for breaking her heart, but I understand you should be allowed to try to make amends. I am an old woman, Caroline, and I know I will struggle to give both my daughter and my granddaughter enough support on my own. All I need to know is whether you really want Flora because you care about her, or whether it is a ploy to win my daughter's affections."
Caroline looked at the woman across from her, and knowing that expressing her feelings was never her strong point, she put all the sincerity into her words that she could muster.
"Your daughter is the loveliest person I have ever met; but that isn't the reason I want to be a part of Flora's life. As soon as I held her, I knew that I had to protect her until Kate was well enough to do it herself. Because I care about Flora too."
Ginika pursed her lips and watched Caroline, she could see the nervous tick in the blonde's jaw as she waited for an answer with the look of a woman about to have judgement passed on them.
Finally, she nodded, "Then I will trust you with both of them."
Her expression softened slightly, "Besides, as further proof that my daughter does not listen to a single word I say, the hospital tell me that you are still technically her next-of-kin," the woman rolled her eyes, "despite me telling her to change that weeks ago."
She continued with a small smile, "So I suppose it makes sense that you should be allowed to help, if you want to. The only thing I ask is that, if Flora stays with you, I can visit as often as possible – I may still lose my daughter. I won't lose my granddaughter as well."
Caroline gave her a watery smile, "I promise that Flora and I will always be thrilled to have you."