He Saved Her, I Lost Our Child

line

held a different weight tha

eping of machines that kept people alive. The silence here was heavy,

otested, citing the fresh plaster encasing my leg and the stitche

see him. And every time it wasn't him, a s

ome. I needed ac

nto the plush Persian rugs. The city lights of Chicago bled through the flo

y door w

llway. The scent hit me before the light did-peat

ed cl

g loosely around his neck like a noose. His head was thrown back, eye

utterly

ing him alive. Maybe he was drinking to drown out the image of hi

My crutch struck the do

. He just shifted, turning his face

ri

red, thick with a

air trapped

whispered. It soun

e. He wasn't mourning his actions. He was dreaming of her. Even in his sleep, in

ice was raspy, dry from days

He just let out a

ed into the darkness. "

ngs as if I'd been

r marriage. The length of th

a waste of time. A placeholder era while he waited for t

he Underboss. The man who had vowed to

oked

age that had fueled me in the hospital, the fire that h

sensation of a structure that had finally collapse

ned a

lights. I sat on the edge of the bed and p

he page marked w

ts. He called o

Scor

was a perfect circle. A zer

t shake. I felt light

dialed a number I had m

to the receiver. "And I need t