POV: Olivia
The fever came fast.
One moment Daisy was chasing her sisters across the living room, cheeks flushed from laughter. The next, she was curled in my lap, skin burning hot enough that my palms stung.
By nightfall, she shook so violently I thought her tiny bones might rattle apart.
I sat in the nursery chair, rocking her back and forth, a cool cloth slipping against her damp curls. My arms ached. My back screamed. But I didn’t dare stop. If I stopped, it felt like the world might stop with me.
“Shhh, sweetheart,” I whispered hoarsely, kissing the crown of her head. “Mama’s here. Mama’s not going anywhere.”
Her breath hitched, the softest whimper tearing me open from the inside.
Two nights without sleep had blurred my vision into static. The other three were finally asleep—Li
