NICHOLAS
The paramedic was asking me something.
I could see his mouth moving. The words were not reaching me.
I was looking at Elena.
She was on the stretcher already.
They had moved fast as they knew what they were dealing with.
She was unconscious. Blood at her temple from the window. The seatbelt and the door had held.
I had covered her and none of that felt like enough standing here looking at her not moving.
"Sir." The paramedic's hand on my arm. "Sir, I need you—"
"She's thirty-six weeks pregnant," I said. "The baby—"
"We know. We're taking her now. Are you her husband?"
"Yes," I said.
"Come with us."
**
The emergency room absorbed Elena immediately.
People converging, equipment appearing, voices overlapping in the language of a medical emergency that excluded everyo
