“We need to take blood, Miss Donovan. If you’d rather wait outside—”

“I’m staying.” She didn’t even let him finish the suggestion. “You can work around me.” She kept hold of Lizzy’s hand, talking to her about the puffins, Ryan and the twins, anything to distract her while the medical team worked.

The next few hours were a blur of tests, bright lights and beeping machines. Of needles, sterility and stress.

Lizzy barely reacted, her eyes closed, the blotches on her skin vivid against the white background.

The walls were covered in a mural, a farm scene, and Emily stared blankly at brightly colored fields until the white dollops of paint started to look more like clouds with legs than sheep.

Her eyes were gritty and her head throbbed.

Staff came and went. Emily desperately wanted reassurance, but no one had answers for her questions.

At one point a nurse dimmed the lights, gave Emily a blanket and advised her to sleep, but she was too afraid to close her eyes, so she curled up in the chair, holding Lizzy’s hand in hers.

Outside the wind howled and whipped the rain against the window, and she recited Green Eggs and Ham quietly, wondering how her life could have changed so much in less than a month.

She thought about the night she’d arrived, and how much she’d wanted to return to the safe, predictable life she’d carefully constructed for herself. She’d struggled against it, but gradually her new life had peeled away the layers of protection she’d worn for so long.

She’d believed that having Lizzy was the worst thing that could have happened to her, but it had turned out to be the best.

Despite her attempts to stay awake, she must have dozed for a little while, and when she opened her eyes Lizzy was looking at her.

“Why are you sleeping in a chair?”

“I didn’t want to leave you.” Groggy, Emily shook off the fog of sleep and felt Lizzy’s chest. Her skin was cool to touch, and the rush of relief was so acute her eyes stung with tears. “How are you feeling?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, baby—” Emily scooped her into her arms and held her. “You’re safe. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

“Why doesn’t Ryan come? I love Ryan.”

Emily held her tightly. Cold spread across her skin and penetrated her heart, and she realized with a rush of alarm that she’d made a mistake letting Ryan become so closely entangled in their lives. She’d only thought about herself, not Lizzy. Their relationship was fun, but she knew that for him it ended there. He didn’t want the responsibility of anything more.

“I know you like Ryan a lot.”