Chapter 3

3: 3

The sight of Evangeline sprawled on the floor turned his face ashen in an instant.

He strode over and swung his hand across my face.

The crack of it rang out, brutally loud in the silent ward.

The soup thermos hit the floor, porridge spilling everywhere.

"Cicely Swanson, I try to do you a kindness and this is what I get. I never should have come to see you."

I held my cheek, shaking all over, and screamed at him.

"She just pulled out my mother's oxygen tube!"

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Jack helped Evangeline up, aching for her.

"Eva's father was gravely ill for years. No one understands that pain better than she does. She's always been kind. How could she ever put someone else through the same suffering?"

"Jack, don't blame your wife..."

Evangeline slumped against his chest, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"She's just worried about Auntie. I'm fine, really..."

Her forgiving words only made Jack ache for her more.

He shot me a vicious glare, gathered Evangeline up, and turned to leave, murmuring soft comfort to her the whole way out.

The ward door slammed shut behind them.

I turned back and, with trembling hands, pushed the oxygen tube into place again.

Touching my swollen cheek, I felt something in me cut like a blade.

But those two short minutes without the tube were enough. The monitor suddenly let out a piercing alarm.

My mother's heart rate spiked into chaos, the waveform breaking apart.

I scrambled for the call button at the head of the bed.

I pressed it over and over.

No one came.

I yanked the door open and ran out, searched the entire floor, and found not a single doctor or nurse on duty.

The basement level was silent as a grave in the dead of night.

Helplessness came down over me like a flood.

"Is anyone here? Doctor! Nurse! Please, help me!"

My breaking voice echoed down the corridor.

Nothing answered.

Just when I was about to give up, a figure appeared at the far end of the hall.

Someone in a mask and a white coat, walking slowly toward me.

I lunged at him like he was the only rope left to grab and seized his arm.

"Doctor! Please, save my mother! Please!"

He stopped where I held him, his voice low.

"Take me to her."

I pulled him into the ward.

He glanced at the monitor and frowned.

"Get out. Wait outside. I'll do the resuscitation. Don't come in and disturb me."

I hesitated, thrown.

"Doctor, shouldn't you call the others? Can you handle this... alone?"

He didn't turn around. His voice went sharp.

"Are you questioning my competence? Fine, then I won't treat her. I'm the only one on duty tonight. If you don't trust me, wait until the hospital opens tomorrow and get her treated then."

I went silent at once and rushed to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry to trouble you. Please, you have to save my mother."

I backed out of the ward and eased the door shut.

Minute by minute, the time crawled by.

I sat in the chair outside the ward and waited. Six hours.

It wasn't until the sky went faintly gray that a nurse coming on shift wandered over on her rounds, yawning.

I stood up quickly and stopped her.

"Nurse, please, go in and help the doctor. He's been doing resuscitation in there all night."

She listened, then looked at me, thoroughly confused.

"Resuscitation? Our night-duty doctor isn't in this building. And there's no sterile environment in a patient room. You can't do a procedure in a ward. Are you sure you haven't got this wrong?"

Something dropped in my chest. In an instant I knew something was wrong.

I shoved the ward door open.

It was empty. The doctor was long gone.

Only my mother lay there on the bed.

The heart-rate leads had been pulled off.

The window beside her stood wide open, cold wind pouring in.

My legs gave out and I fell against the bedside.

"Mom! Mom, wake up!"

I reached out to touch her face.

All that met my hand was the cold of it.

I collapsed against the bed and wept until my voice broke.

In that frantic moment, the first person I thought of was Jack.

The Henson family's hospital had the best doctors and resources in the country. He had to have a way!