The ride from the airport felt like it lasted a lifetime. Every red light was an insult, every car in our way a personal enemy. By the time the black SUV screeched to a halt in front of the hospital entrance, I was out the door before Eric could even kill the engine.
My legs felt like lead, but I pushed through the sterile, white hallways, the scent of antiseptic stinging my nose. My heart was thumping a frantic rhythm against my ribs—please be okay, please be okay.
I finally saw them at the end of a long corridor near the pediatric intensive care unit. Chloe was pacing, her face tear-stained and her hands shaking. But before I could reach her, before I could press her for the details I was dying to know, I saw her.
Eleanor.
She was standing there like a dark omen, her arms crossed ove
