The Secret That Broke Us novel · Chapter 4 of 32
Chapter 4: The NICU Hallway
The doctor let me out of bed the next morning on one condition.
I had to be in a wheelchair, and I could go as far as the second floor.
Lena pushed me.
She had said, "Over my dead body," twice, and then she had taken the handles anyway.
"You don't owe her five minutes," she said in the elevator.
"I know."
"Then why are we going?"
"Because I want to hear her say it to my face," I said. "And I want her to see mine."
The neonatal unit had a long window and a row of plastic cribs.
A woman in a hospital robe sat in a wheelchair at the glass with a blanket across her knees.
Her honey-blond hair was combed.
Her face was clean and pale, with a little color on the cheeks.
She looked up when she heard the wheels, and her eyes filled right on schedule.
"June," Kristin whispered. "Oh, June. You came."
Lena stopped my chair six feet away.
"That's close enough," she said.
"It's okay, Lena." Kristin pressed her fingers to her mouth. "She's allowed to be angry. I'd be angry."
"I'm not angry," I said.
It was true, and I watched her not know what to do with that.
"Tell me why you called my line," I said.
"I didn't mean to." She put her hand on her chest. "Nate and I were driving back from my sister's, and my water broke, and the phone was in my hand, and 911 was all I could think of. I swear I didn't know it would be you."
"You told the medic you knew."
She blinked.
"What?"
"Ben Radke. Medic 4. You asked him to tell me you were sorry. You said you knew I'd be the one to answer."
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