CHAPTER 5
I signed the electronic forms with a frantic stroke of my hand, taking full financial and legal responsibility for every high-risk treatment available in the state of New York. Within ninety seconds, a specialized trauma team flooded the room, disconnecting monitors and wheeling Theo’s bed into the private elevator toward the PICU on the eighth floor.
Sienna stood near the window, her hands pressed tightly over her mouth as she watched the medical team hurry our son down the hallway. Her knees buckled under the unbearable strain, but I caught her before she hit the floor, lifting her slender body into my arms.
"I've got you," I murmured into her neck, carrying her to a small waiting area couch and sitting beside her as she wept uncontrollably into my chest. "I’ve got both of you now, Sienna."
"He was so healthy yesterday, Elliot," she sobbed, clutching the fabric of my suit jacket like a drowning person clinging to a lifeline. "He was singing along to Christmas commercials in our kitchen, and then by midnight he was burning up and gasping for air."
"He’s strong, Sienna," I assured her, stroking her back with steady, rhythmic strokes while my own heart pounded with raw terror. "He has your strength and your resilience. He's going to fight through this."
She pulled back slightly, her dark eyes searching my face with a heartbreaking combination of lingering resentment and desperate hope.
"Why did you really come, Elliot?" she asked softly, her voice piercing right through my soul. "Was it just guilty conscience, or did you finally realize that money can't keep you warm when you're completely alone in the world?"
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The truth hung heavy in the air between us, as cold and sharp as the December storm raging outside the hospital windows.
"I came because I realized I’ve been a coward for two years," I confessed openly, holding her gaze without trying to hide my tears. "And because I love you both more than life itself, even if I proved it in the worst possible way."
