Harlan stopped breathing for a second.
I watched it happen.
Then he exhaled.
“The episode appears to have been triggered by exertion, cold exposure, and stress,” the doctor continued.
“Her numbers are responding well.
We’re keeping her overnight for observation, but at the moment I don’t see anything that suggests a larger complication.”
“Can I see her?”
“In a few minutes.”
Harlan nodded.
The doctor looked at me.
“Whoever kept her sitting upright and calm did exactly the right thing.”
Harlan’s gaze moved to me again.
This time there was something different in it.
Not suspicion.
Not calculation.
Gratitude.
The kind that made me uncomfortable because I hadn’t done anything extraordinary.
I had heard a child coughing.
I had stopped.
That was all.
At one in the morning, Belle was awake enough to complain that the hospital socks were ugly.
That was when I knew she was going to be fine.
