My body felt as if it had been split open and sewn back together.
For a moment, I had no idea where I was.
Then the memories returned in fragments.
The nursery.
The blood.
Ethan crying.
Ryan leaving.
I tried to move, and pain shot through me so sharply that I gasped.
A woman’s voice came from beside the bed. Women'sempowerment coaching
“Easy, Emma. Don’t try to sit up.”
I turned my head.
A nurse stood there, adjusting the IV line in my arm.
“Where’s my baby?” I whispered.
“He’s safe.”
Those words struck me harder than anything else.
Safe.
My eyes filled with tears.
“Where?”
“In the neonatal observation unit. He was dehydrated when he came in, but he responded beautifully. He’s strong.”
My lips trembled.
“I thought…”
“I know.”
The nurse’s expression gentled.
“You were very lucky someone found you.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, the door opened.
A man stepped inside.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and at least ten years older than Ryan. His brown hair was touched with gray at the temples, and his face carried a tiredness that made him look as though he had carried someone else’s emergency all the way to the hospital and had not put it down yet.
I recognized him at once.
“Daniel?”
Daniel Hayes stood at the foot of my bed, holding a paper cup of coffee he had obviously forgotten to drink.
“Hey, Emma.”
My throat tightened.
Daniel had been my older brother’s best friend in college. Years ago, he had felt almost like family. He had helped me move into my first apartment after graduation. He had once repaired my car during a snowstorm. He was the kind of steady presence people remembered even after life pulled them in different directions. Familycounseling services
I had not seen him in nearly two years.
“What happened?” I asked.
Daniel looked at the nurse, then back at me.
“I came by your house.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Your brother asked me to.”
My heart clenched.
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