CHAPTER 2 — WHAT QUINCY SAW
Quincy knew where to go.
That was the first miracle.
Behind the hospital, past the ambulance bay, there was a narrow service road leading to a closed pharmacy. Emily stumbled twice before they reached it, but Quincy never let go of her hand.
“My mom used to bring me here,” he said quickly. “Before she died.”
Emily looked down at him.
Nathan had told her Quincy’s mother died from a heart condition.
But the way Quincy said it made the night colder.
A security guard spotted them near the pharmacy door. He was an older man with tired eyes and a coffee cup in his hand.
“What happened to you?”
Emily could barely speak. She held up the baby.
“They told me she was dead.”
The guard’s expression changed instantly.
Within minutes, they were inside the pharmacy, the door locked behind them. The guard called 911 from his personal phone, not the hospital line.
Quincy sat beside Emily while she wrapped the baby in clean towels from the first-aid shelf.
“What did you mean?” Emily asked softly. “When you said this happened before?”
Quincy stared at the floor.
His small shoulders trembled.
“My baby sister.”
Emily’s breath stopped.
Quincy swallowed hard.
“My mom had a baby too. A girl. Grandma Margaret said she died. But I heard crying. I told Dad. He said I was confused.”
Emily’s arms tightened around her daughter.
“What happened to your mother, Quincy?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“She kept asking questions.”
Before Emily could answer, red and blue lights flashed across the pharmacy windows.
Police cars.
An ambulance.
And behind them, Nathan’s black SUV stopped at the curb.
Margaret stepped out first.
Bible in hand.
Calm as Sunday morning.
She looked straight through the glass at Emily and smiled.
May you like
Not kindly.
Knowingly.
