Evangeline’s POV:
My head felt light, like it was drifting somewhere far away from my battered, aching body. I lay still as the nurse checked my vitals.
Each brush of her fingers against my bruised skin sent dull throbs of pain radiating outward, but it was muted now that the medicine was registering, as though the agony was happening to someone else.
I shifted slightly and croaked out a hoarse whisper, "How are... my kids?"
The nurse, a woman with warm brown skin and a Filipino accent— Chloe, her name tag read — smiled gently down at me. Although her smile was meant to be reassuring, there was a glimmer of pity behind it that twisted my gut.
"They'll be fine," she said, adjusting the IV line in my arm. "Very healthy. Don’t worry. Just sleeping right now."
A breath escaped my lips,
