Chapter 2

"Eli, what's wrong with you?" Zoe jumped beside me, grabbing my arm.

I couldn't spare her a glance. I ran alongside the gurney like a madman, chasing it the whole way down the hall.

But at the door of the emergency room, a nurse threw out an arm and stopped me cold.

I stared at that door with its red light burning, my head one long buzzing drone.

There was no way Ruby had actually jumped.

She was afraid of a needle prick.

She was only trying to scare me.

Before I could pull myself together, two uniformed officers came striding over.

"You're Elijah Lawrence, Ruby Fox's husband?"

I gave a stiff nod.

The officer's face was grave as he took out a small notebook.

"Your wife fell from the thirtieth floor. Thanks to a neighbor calling it in fast, the fire crew got an air cushion down below."

"Her life was saved, but both legs took the brunt of it. Severe fractures."

Hearing she wasn't dead, I actually let out a long breath.

I knew it.

She'd never have the nerve to really die.

Even jumping, she'd made sure there was a cushion waiting below.

This whole performance was just to force me to back down, wasn't it?

I saw the pointing and whispering around me, and felt Ruby had humiliated me in front of everyone.

Hurried footsteps came pounding from the end of the corridor.

Ruby's parents came stumbling toward us, holding each other up.

Her mother was crying so hard she couldn't stay on her feet.

Her father's eyes were red. He rushed up without a word, raised his hand, and slapped me across the face.

The blow snapped my head to the side, my ear ringing.

I covered my cheek and glared at him.

"Dad, what did you hit me for?"

"She was the one who insisted on this life-or-death scene. Was I supposed to stop her?"

Her mother pointed at me, her finger trembling nonstop.

"You animal. If you hadn't driven her to the edge, why would she ever jump!"

I gave a cold laugh and pointed at the ER door.

"Driven to the edge? This was pure theater!"

"Who jumps and aims right for the air cushion? She did it to threaten me. She was playing games with her own life!"

"With a temper this extreme, she'll drive me insane sooner or later!"

Her father shook all over with rage and raised his cane to bring it down on me.

Just then the ER doors opened.

The attending doctor came out, covered in blood.

He pulled down his mask, his face heavy.

"Which of you is family?"

Her parents and I crowded in at once.

"Doctor, how is my daughter?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head.

"The mother suffered crushing fractures in both legs. Her life was saved."

"But I'm very sorry. The twins she was carrying, three months along, couldn't be saved."

Twins?

Couldn't be saved!

It hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I stood frozen where I was, unable to come back to myself for a long moment.

She was pregnant?

And three months already?

Why didn't I know any of it?

These past three months, she'd always been throwing up at home.

I'd thought it was just her stomach acting up.

I'd even found the smell of her vomit disgusting and moved to the spare room for a whole month.

Every time she tried to talk to me, I made an excuse about something at Zoe's and slammed the door on my way out.

So that had been morning sickness.

Zoe drifted over at some point.

She slid her arm through mine, her voice soft and coaxing.

"Oh, that wife of yours, really."

"Pregnant and she doesn't say a word about it. However bad her temper is, she shouldn't take it out on the babies."

"So immature. Eli, don't take it too hard."

Zoe's words were a lifeline.

In an instant I found my way down off the ledge.

I turned and looked at her parents.

"Did you hear that?"

"She dug her own grave. Sulking at me, she went and lost the babies over it!"

"How is that my fault?"

Hearing this, her father couldn't get his next breath in. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed.