Chapter 6: Her Phone Rings

Elliot's POV

I drove Courtney to the hospital with both hands locked on the wheel.

She cried in the passenger seat the whole way.

"It hurts," she kept saying. "Elliot, it hurts. Drive faster."

I drove faster.

I did not look at my hands.

At the obstetrics desk, a nurse took her away on a wheelchair, and I stood in the hall and looked at my right boot.

There was a smear of red on the toe.

It was not Courtney's.

I was a doctor, and I knew exactly what I had seen on that floor.

A torn port, bleeding fast.

Dangerous if nobody pressed on it, survivable if somebody did.

Dale had pressed on it.

That was what I told myself.

I stayed in the hall for forty minutes.

Then the OB came out and said the baby's heartbeat was strong and there was no sign of trauma.

"Her hip is bruised," she said. "She fell, but not hard. Mostly she's very upset."

"Can I see her?"

"In a minute. She's asking for water."

I nodded, walked to the end of the hall, and took out my phone.

I called Annie.

It rang six times and went to voicemail.

I called again.

Voicemail.

My mother picked up on the first ring when I tried her.

"Is it the baby?"

"The baby's fine. Mom, did you know Annie had..." I stopped.

"Had what?"

"A port in her chest. And a surgery last week."

"Of course I knew, dear. She's been sick for years."

The hallway got very quiet.

"For years," I said.

"Courtney's the one you should be worried about. Don't call that girl, Elliot."

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