Chapter 4: A Wife Says Nothing

They gave me a bedroom at the other end of the hall, with a lock on the inside of the door.

I was glad of it.

I lay on top of the covers in my gray dress and listened to the house.

Nobody had told me where Rory's night nurse slept.

I had not seen her since the wedding.

At a quarter to one I heard something fall in Rory's room.

It was a soft, heavy sound, and after it came a harsh, dragging noise of someone fighting for air.

I was out of bed before I decided to go.

His door was not locked.

The lamp was on, and no one else was in the room.

Rory had slid halfway off the pillows, and his whole body was jerking.

The oxygen tube lay across his chest.

His lips were a dark color I had never seen on a living mouth.

"Rory," I said.

His eyes rolled toward me and did not stay.

I grabbed his shoulders and dragged him back up the bed.

He was heavier than he looked, and every muscle in him was locked.

I turned him on his side so he would not choke, and I put the oxygen tube back under his nose.

The wheeze did not change.

I looked for a nurse.

There was no bell, no monitor, no one.

I took my phone from my pocket and dialed.

"Emergency services," a voice said. "What is your emergency?"

"My husband is having a seizure and he can't breathe," I said. "The Keane townhouse. Please send an ambulance now."

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