ina'

g I noticed wa

ong time, processing it the way your brain processed simple thin

My left side felt like someone had taken a crowbar to my ribs, my head was an experiment in pain I ha

gh my left side was so immediate and violent th

acked ribs on the left side. Sitting up fast i

ties, and had a blank expression. He was sitting i

I asked, voice

aid. "I'm an ER doctor. I p

red a

er." I r

und eleven PM." He said flatly. "I was b

e rain, the car behind me, being too close and th

hit me,

uardrail into the river. I pulled you out and brought

stopped. "Why

as the him. She wore a stethoscope and did the full check without small

then looked at me directly. "I'm D

n though it was a lie. "W

ster, when you came in we did a full exam. And I need te

starts that way doesn

e preg

ated, still unable

She r

I knew obviously k

rasound, approxim

ile I was pregnant and I didn't

re," Dr. Ri

e could

s tw

ling to produce something I had apparently been producing all along, twins specifically, which felt like

." I r

ause I need you to understand what these babies survive tonight." She folded her hands. "The crash alone, blunt force trauma, the impact your body absorbed, statisticall

ld be dead,"

However, and I need you to hear this clearly, surviving tonight doesn't mean you're

do you

morrow or three weeks from now with very little warning." She held my gaze. "And if you make it to full term, which is a big if, delivering twins after a pregnancy this compromised is going to b

my stomach befo

mpt, I'm pregnant with twins I didn't know existed, and even if everything go

rate summary, y

"Why not include that my apartment also

t Sam blank, unbothered expression that I was starting to un

mething els

out hi

DEAD IN TRAGIC MOU

e then read t

er Daughter-in-law. Investigati

ne off that road. No body found, and investigation was con

't even lo

c calls to people who picked up immediately. That kind of speed doesn't happen without se

e Cruz,"

only name

and the specific, devasting clarity of understanding that the family who

ugh my thoughts. "They'll know they failed,

pressed flat against my stomach. "You'r

om wen

underneath my hands, two heartbeats that had

Growing inside me while his fa

om wen