Chương 6
“It was already in there.”
“I know.”
His tone turned defensive too quickly.
Mara said nothing.
A fire department ambulance turned onto the street.
Several neighbors had begun watching from windows.
Mr. Patel from two houses down stood beside his mailbox holding a stack of envelopes he had apparently forgotten to carry inside.
Daniel saw him and gave a small wave.
Mr. Patel did not wave back.
The ambulance stopped at the curb.
Two paramedics stepped out.
One was a broad-shouldered man with gray at his temples.
The other was a younger woman with dark hair pulled into a tight braid.
The woman came toward Mara first.
“I’m Elena.”
“Mara.”
“You’re the patient?”
“Yes.”
Elena glanced at Daniel, then Mrs. Calder.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Mara opened her mouth.
Daniel answered.
“She stumbled inside.”
Elena did not look at him.
“I’m asking her.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Mara felt the old instinct to protect him rise so quickly it almost won.
“I fell.”
Elena waited.
Mara looked at the concrete.
“My husband pushed me.”
The sentence seemed to alter the air.
Mrs. Calder inhaled softly.
Daniel laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Come on.”
Elena’s partner stepped between Daniel and Mara without making the movement look dramatic.
“Sir, give us a little room.”
“She’s making it sound like I attacked her.”
The older paramedic nodded.
“We’ll talk in a minute.”
“No, because that matters.”
“It can matter in a minute.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
She had never seen him struggle so visibly to decide which version of himself to use.
Angry husband would confirm too much.
Patient husband required silence.
He chose silence.
Elena guided Mara toward the ambulance.
“Any bleeding?”
“No.”
“Fluid?”
“No.”
“Abdominal pain?”
“Tightness.”
“Constant?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
Elena’s voice stayed neutral.
“What part of you hit when you fell?”
“My hip and knee.”
“Did your abdomen hit anything?”
“No.”
They reached the open rear doors.
Elena lowered the step.
Mara turned.
Daniel was still beside the walkway.
He held himself very straight.
Her bag lay spilled just inside the doorway behind him.
A blue shirt.
A charger.
Four torn pieces of a white card.
For some reason the sight of the shirt upset her more than anything else had.
It was the shirt she wore on their first weekend trip after they got married.
Daniel had spilled salsa on it at a roadside diner and apologized to the waitress because he thought she had bumped him.
The waitress had laughed.
Mara had laughed too.
She climbed into the ambulance.
Elena followed.
The older paramedic stayed outside with Daniel.
The doors remained open.
“Is he coming?”
Mara asked.
“Do you want him to?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
The answer was so simple that Mara stared at her.
Elena noticed.
“Your choice.”
Mara sat on the stretcher.
Her hands had begun trembling again.
“Can he stop me?”
“From going with us?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Mara looked toward the open doors.
Daniel was talking to the other paramedic now.
She could not hear the words.
His hands moved in small controlled gestures.
“He’s going to say I’m unstable.”
Elena wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Mara’s arm.
“What do you want us to know?”
“That he’s going to say that.”
“All right.”
The cuff tightened.
Mara flinched.
Elena stopped immediately.
“Too much?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Elena continued.
Mara watched the digital numbers appear.
“Is the baby moving normally?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“I’ve been distracted.”
“That’s understandable.”
Mara looked at her sharply.
Elena adjusted the cuff.
“I mean because you fell.”
Mara nodded.
The correction embarrassed them both.
Elena switched on a small monitor and began asking routine questions.
Name.
Date of birth.
Allergies.
Medications.
Prenatal care provider.
Mara answered each one.
The ordinariness steadied her.
There were forms for pain.
Questions with expected answers.
Boxes someone else had already designed.
Nobody asked her to explain her whole marriage.
Daniel appeared at the rear doors.
“I’m following in the car.”
Mara’s heart jumped.
Elena turned.
“She asked that you not ride with us.”
“I’m not riding with you.”
He looked directly at Mara.
“I said I’ll follow.”
Mara gripped the edge of the stretcher.
“No.”
Daniel blinked.
“What?”
“I don’t want you at the hospital.”
His face changed before he could stop it.
“That’s insane.”
Elena stepped closer to the door.
“Sir.”
“I’m her husband.”
“And she’s an adult patient.”
“She is pregnant with my child.”
Mara felt the words land differently than he intended.
Not our baby.
My child.
Elena’s partner returned.
“Daniel, we need you to step back.”
Daniel looked at the name badge on his shirt.
“You already know my name.”
“You told me your name.”
“No, she told you things about me.”
The paramedic’s expression hardened.
“You need to step away from the vehicle.”
For one dangerous second, Mara thought Daniel might refuse.
Then Mr. Patel’s voice came from somewhere behind him.
“You heard the man.”
Everyone turned.
Mr. Patel stood near the sidewalk, mail still in one hand.
Daniel stared at him.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
Mr. Patel shrugged.
“You’re doing it in the street.”
Mrs. Calder made a sound that might have been a cough and might have been a laugh.
Daniel looked around at the houses.
Curtains had moved.
Doors had opened.
People were watching.
Public attention had always been his preferred protection.
Now it worked against him.
He stepped back.
The ambulance doors closed.
Mara heard the latch engage.
Her body sagged before she meant it to.
Elena sat across from her.
“We’re going to County General.”
“Okay.”
“They have obstetrics.”
“Okay.”
The ambulance began moving.
Mara looked down at her phone.
Her screen showed twelve percent battery.
She opened the cloud app again.
Verification required.
A code had been sent to her email.
She opened email.
The message was there.
Her fingers shook so badly she entered the code wrong twice.
Elena pretended not to watch.
May you like
On the third try, the account opened.
Seven files appeared in the folder.
