Chapter 14: Fever

The emergency room doors opened before Elise reached them.

Margaret stood inside the entrance in her camel coat, with her sleeves pushed up and her hair coming out of its clip.

"They took her straight back," she said. "A hundred and three. The doctor wants you."

Elise ran.

The doctor was a tired woman in blue scrubs, and she did not waste a word.

"She's six weeks old, so any fever means a full workup. We've drawn blood and started antibiotics through a line."

"Is she going to be all right?"

"You brought her fast. That matters. She stays at least two days."

Elise looked through the glass.

June lay under a warming lamp with a tiny tape-wrapped arm and a red, damp face.

Her small fist opened and closed on nothing.

"Can I hold her?"

"Yes. Sit and stay close, and let her feed if she wants."

Elise sat, and the nurse laid June against her.

June found her at once, and Elise let her head fall back against the wall and cried without sound.

Nolan stood at the end of the corridor.

He had come in behind her and stopped at a distance, with his cap in his hands and his coat open.

She looked at him over June's head, and he did not come closer.

At midnight, Jodie sat her down in the waiting room and put a paper cup in her hand.

"Drink. And do not turn around."

Elise turned around.

A woman in a gray coat sat alone in the far row of chairs, with her handbag on her knees and her back very straight.

Elise knew the coat. She knew the hands that gripped the bag.

"Calvin's mother," she said.

"She's been here an hour," Jodie said. "Your mom wanted to throw her out, and I said no. I figured you should get to do it."

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