The door banged open and Andrew came rushing inside.

“Oh my God!”

Andrew knelt over her, sporting a considerable knot on his forehead, blood smeared up into his hairline. “What happened?”

“I fell,” she said, trying to hide any sarcasm in her voice. Buttons had his face inches from her own, his hot dog-breath washing over her.

“Here, let me help you up.”

Her husband slipped one hand under her thighs and the other under the middle of her back. When he tried to lift her, she screamed.

“Stop! Stop!” she begged. “No. Don’t pick me up.”

He licked his lips, eyes anxious. “You have to tell me what’s wrong.”

“My knee. It came out,” she said tightly. Her body had gone so stiff, it felt as if all of her bones were going to splinter. “My hip too.”

Andrew muttered something, bouncing on the balls of his feet, unsure what to do.

“Help me put them back in,” she said, dreading it as much as every fiber of her being craved it.

“Okay. Okay. Where should I start?”

Unfortunately for Andrew, he’d become as adept as any orthopedist at slipping joints back into place. It was fortunate for Kate, because she didn’t have to run to a hospital every time it happened. Without Andrew, she’d be in emergency rooms daily.

After hundreds of subluxations, the tendons and ligaments around her knees, shoulders, hips, and wrists had become soft and pliant. It meant bones could and did pop out at will with the slightest provocation. It also meant they could go back in just as easily – though never painlessly – with some assistance.

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “They both hurt like hell.”

So did her chest, but there was nothing he could do about that. Kate willed her heart to settle down, but it wasn’t listening. It rarely did.

“Which knee, which hip?” he asked, his tone high and nervous. This was the first time both had ever gone out simultaneously.

“The left,” she said, fresh tears springing.

His warm hands circled her ankle and calf.

“I’m going to pull slowly, and we’ll see which one goes back home first.”

She almost laughed at the thought of her kneecap being a little piggy crying wee-wee-wee all the way to its damaged home. Almost.

The instant Andrew pulled on her leg, fresh waves of agony pierced her nerves from head to toe. She must have cried out, because he stopped and said, “Okay, I’ll try something else.”

“No,” she urged him. “Just do it. Keep going, no matter what.”

Andrew wiped the sweat from his brow and took her leg again. This time, he tilted her leg slightly to the left as he pulled down. She felt her kneecap shift.