Near midnight, a doctor finally came through the doors.
We both stood at once.
“The babies have been delivered,” he said. “They’re premature, but they’re responding well.”
I grabbed Noah’s arm.
“And Lily?”
The doctor’s hesitation told us everything.
“She’s lost a significant amount of blood. We’re working to stabilize her, but she’s in critical condition.”
My stomach dropped.
Noah went pale.
“Can I see her?”
“Not yet.”
“Is she going to make it?”
“We’re doing everything possible.”
Then the doctor disappeared behind the doors again.
Noah sank into his chair.
I put a hand between his shoulders.
“Lily is stubborn,” I whispered.
He gave a broken laugh.
“That’s true.”
“She’ll fight.”
Noah covered his face.
When he lowered his hands again, something had changed.
He looked frightened, but not only because of what was happening behind those doors.
“Hannah.”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something.”
“Now?”
“Especially now.”
I stared at him.
He glanced toward the hallway.
“Come with me.”
“She Made Me Promise”
We walked toward an empty corridor near the stairwell.
Noah stopped beneath a dim wall light.
He looked exhausted.
“Hannah, before they took Lily into surgery, she made me promise something.”
“What?”
“If things went wrong, she wanted you to know everything.”
My skin went cold.
“Know what?”
He swallowed.
“About us.”
“What about you?”
“About why I married her.”
Those words struck harder than I expected.
All the suspicions I had buried years earlier returned at once.
“Noah.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“I probably do.”
“Then don’t say another word unless you’re prepared to destroy everything I believe about you.”
He shut his eyes briefly.
“I’ve been prepared for that since the day I signed it.”
“Signed what?”
Noah reached inside his coat.
He removed a folded document.
“Read this.”
I unfolded it.
The letterhead belonged to my father’s law office.
Below it were several paragraphs of legal language.
Then I saw the figures.
