Later, that night, Cora lay naked under her covers for the first time in months. Was it months? Her brow scrunched together, Alec’s bare back to her a metre away. Yes, at least two. Maybe three. Like any married couple, they had sex less and less. Whenever his hands searched for her under the covers like tonight, it was nice, as always, even if it had lost that passion that used to feel all consuming. Nevertheless, Cora had found herself avoiding it. Tonight, like often happened, flashes of his eyes, the look in them that made her feel small and stupid, had entered her head, memories of all the times he had been cold to her or had told her off or had brought her down. She’d frozen. Every emotion associated with those memories settled over her, heavy and choking—the feeling in her stomach when she’d apologise to keep the peace, with no idea what she was apologising for, sure somehow that it should really be him saying it.

She often found herself turning her head away, even as his lips touched her cheek.

Overhead, shadows danced from the tree outside their window, and if she stared at them long enough, she could lose herself in picking out shapes.

Two weeks ago, she’d told him that she was leaving, and she’d thought she had meant it.

She still thought she had.

Yet, when the words built up in her lungs, worked their way up her throat, they always faltered on her tongue.

When had she lost her courage?

Her parents had once said there was a fire in her no one could ever put out. A fire that drove her curiosity, her determination. Her father had always laughed and said he hoped she’d never change.

But she had changed.

So slowly, she’d only just started to notice it.

CHAPTER SIX

“Push!”

“I can’t.”

The woman in front of Frazer was too exhausted to even sob. Her knees shook, and her hair, so perfectly done when she had arrived, was a limp mess around her face.

“One more, and the hard part’s over.” Frazer put a steadying hand on the woman’s knee. “I promise.”

That moment, that exact moment, was why she loved her job. Everything narrowed down to the exhausted patient and Frazer. Glazed eyes opened to stare at her and Frazer stared unblinkingly back. The woman’s face was crimson. She bore down, and a new baby slithered out, wet, blue, and unmoving. This was the easy part. Tears streamed down the woman’s face as she slumped back and Frazer placed the now-screaming baby on her stomach. Her partner ran trembling fingers gently over the dusting of hair on the newborn’s tiny head. She dropped a blanket over the baby, soft and pre-warmed.

Frazer cleaned up, a few stitches almost gone unnoticed except for the quick glare from the mother that she met with a sympathetic wince. Fifteen minutes later, she left the room, hands scrubbed clean and the family curled up together on the bed.