Chapter 5 - Waking Up to Ashes
I woke up to the steady, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor.
My mouth was incredibly dry, tasting like old cotton and sterile chemicals.
When I tried to shift my weight, a blinding, searing pain ripped across my entire midsection, forcing a gasp from my throat.
“Do not move, Maddie, please do not try to move.”
Ethan’s voice was rough, exhausted, and incredibly close.
I forced my heavy eyelids open, squinting against the dim lighting of the Intensive Care Unit.
Ethan was sitting beside my bed, looking like he had aged ten years in a single night.
He was still wearing his bloody scrub pants, his eyes bloodshot and rimmed with dark, heavy circles.
Panic instantly flooded my veins, washing away the grogginess of the anesthesia.
“Lily,” I rasped, my hands flying frantically toward my empty, heavily bandaged stomach.
“Where is my baby?”
Ethan caught my hands gently, pressing them against his warm, stubbled cheek.
“She is alive, sweetheart, she is alive and she is safe,” he promised, his voice breaking with emotion.
“She is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, just down the hall.”
A massive, overwhelming wave of relief crashed over me, and hot tears spilled down my cheeks.
“Is she okay?” I asked, desperate for every single detail.
“She is small, only four pounds, and she needs a little help breathing right now,” Ethan explained softly.
“But she is incredibly strong, Maddie, she has your fighting spirit.”
I closed my eyes, thanking God, the universe, and my brilliant husband for saving our little girl.
Then, the memories of the kitchen came rushing back in a horrific, violent flood.
I remembered the boiling milk.
I remembered my mother’s cold, calculating eyes.
I remembered the velvet box.
“The diamonds,” I whispered, panic rising in my chest again.
Ethan reached into the pocket of his scrubs and pulled out the navy-blue velvet box, placing it safely on my chest.
“I grabbed it off the floor before the ambulance doors closed,” he assured me.
“No one is ever going to take this away from our daughter.”
I let out a shaky breath, resting my hand over the soft velvet.
“Where is Vivian?” I asked, refusing to call that monster my mother ever again.
Ethan’s expression hardened, a cold, surgical ruthlessness settling into his dark eyes.
“She is sitting in a county jail cell, right next to your sister.”
“Your father told the police everything, Maddie, he finally told the absolute truth.”
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I stared at the ceiling, processing the fact that my entire blood family was shattered beyond repair.
But as I looked at Ethan’s devoted face, I realized my real family was perfectly intact.
