Chapter 3 - THREE HEARTBEATS
The hospital prepared three pediatric trauma rooms.
Nathan was not permitted to act as the attending physician.
He knew too much.
He cared too deeply.
Dr. Elena Brooks examined Lily while a neonatal team treated the twins.
Nathan stood behind the glass, unable to stop counting the seconds between each movement.
Lily’s core temperature was dangerously low.
Her feet were badly injured from the cold.
Her left shoulder was dislocated from falling while carrying the babies.
Owen had mild hypothermia and dehydration.
Ethan was in worse condition.
His oxygen level continued dropping.
A nurse placed a breathing tube while another called for emergency imaging.
Nathan watched Ethan’s tiny chest rise beneath the machine.
“He was quiet in the blanket,” Nathan said.
Rosa stood beside him.
“Lily kept asking him not to sleep.”
Nathan pressed one hand against the glass.
A five-year-old had recognized danger and kept moving when most adults would have collapsed.
“She saved both of them.”
“She tried to save everyone,” Rosa replied.
Dr. Brooks emerged an hour later.
“Lily is stable.”
Nathan closed his eyes briefly.
“The twins?”
“Owen is responding well.”
“And Ethan?”
“We found evidence of a respiratory infection.”
Dr. Brooks lowered her voice.
“He was already ill before the exposure.”
“Will he survive?”
“We are doing everything possible.”
The phrase sounded different when spoken to him.
Nathan had used it with hundreds of families.
Now he understood how little comfort it contained.
“Lily regained consciousness for several minutes,” Brooks said.
“She asked whether you were real.”
Nathan looked through the glass.
“Can I see her?”
“For a few minutes.”
Lily lay beneath warming blankets.
A clear oxygen tube rested beneath her nose.
Her face was pale, and her blond hair spread across the pillow in damp curls.
Nathan sat beside her.
Her green eyes opened.
They were Sarah’s eyes.
They were also his mother’s.
“Uncle Nathan?”
“I’m here.”
“Did the babies make it?”
“They are alive.”
“Both?”
“Yes.”
She released a breath.
“Mommy said you fix hearts.”
Nathan’s throat tightened.
“I try.”
“Ethan’s heart is scared.”
Nathan took her small hand carefully.
“The doctors are helping him.”
Lily looked toward the door.
“Is Daddy here?”
“No.”
“Don’t let him find us.”
“I won’t.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
“He knows the secret room.”
“What secret room?”
Lily’s breathing changed.
“The room under the barn.”
Nathan leaned closer.
“Was your mother taken there?”
“I don’t know.”
“She told me never to go inside.”
“Why?”
“Daddy kept boxes there.”
“What kind of boxes?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“Pictures of you.”
Nathan felt cold move through him.
“Pictures of me?”
“And letters.”
Her voice weakened.
“Mommy wrote them.”
“Did Marcus keep them?”
Lily nodded.
“All of them.”
She began falling asleep.
Before she did, she whispered one more thing.
“Mommy said you came every Christmas.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
May you like
He had never visited them at Christmas.
Not once.
