Chapter 2 - TWELVE MINUTES
The ambulance reached us in twelve minutes.
I remember because time became numbers.
1:58 p.m.
Paramedics entered the yard.
2:03.
Monitor straps.
Blood pressure.
Questions.
2:07.
Lauren’s face turning gray.
2:10.
A paramedic saying:
“Fetal heart rate’s down.”
Daniel moved backward.
That surprised me.
He could have become the loudest person in the yard.
Instead, he identified himself as an obstetrician and Lauren’s brother-in-law, gave the crew the observations he had made, then stepped out of their clinical space.
Later he told me:
“She needed her medical team, not a relative trying to become one.”
At the time, I wanted him to fix everything.
He couldn’t.
Lauren gripped my hand before they loaded her.
“Elena.”
“I’m here.”
“My bag.”
“What?”
“Don’t let Brent—”
The stretcher moved.
“Don’t let Brent what?”
Her eyes closed.
The doors shut.
Brent immediately climbed toward the ambulance.
A paramedic blocked him.
“One rider.”
“I’m her husband.”
Lauren opened her eyes.
“Ellie.”
She meant me.
Brent stared.
The paramedic looked at Lauren.
“You want your sister?”
Tiny nod.
I climbed in.
The door closed on Brent’s face.
For the first time that afternoon, he looked afraid.
May you like
Not of losing Lauren.
Of being outside the room.
