After speculation about a “royal baby” surged, Margaret discovered she was not pregnant; her recent symptoms and weight gain had been coincidental. The rumor temporarily rehabilitated Cosmo’s public image and softened backlash against Margaret for her connection to the David Ryan Atwood scandal, but both realized the affection of strangers was fickle and unearned. The attention escalated into constant surveillance, with paparazzi surrounding their home, digging through trash, and prompting the couple to live behind bolted doors and drawn drapes.

Margaret’s empathy for Laura’s panic deepened as she imagined trying to protect a future child in this environment. On her doctor’s advice, Laura left to stay anonymously at a family chalet in Switzerland that their father offered, the same place their grandfather had once used to hide a birth. A trusted doctor escorted Laura, and the sisters exchanged intimate daily letters; Laura encouraged Margaret to save her worries for a baby Margaret still desperately wanted.

As time passed without a pregnancy, Margaret’s longing grew, and tensions rose between her and Cosmo. Margaret preferred to stay home to avoid harassment, while Cosmo insisted they should not cede their lives to paparazzi. Their arguments culminated in Cosmo’s anguished admission that they could not bring a child into such conditions; Margaret felt heartbreak and relief because she had feared the same.

On a Tuesday, Margaret suddenly became violently ill, with nausea, severe abdominal pain, and fever. Cosmo tried to call their trusted physician, but he was on hospital shift, so Cosmo carried Margaret to their car and rushed toward the hospital with their driver. Paparazzi cars swarmed, boxed them in, and filmed as they sped through traffic.

Approaching a yellow light, the driver accelerated; cars matched their speed, and one on the left braked at the last moment. As Cosmo’s car passed through the intersection, a truck barreled into them. The collision cut the scene to black, leaving the outcome of the crash unresolved within this chapter.