“She needs the hospital,” Calvin abdo
“She does,” Dr. Lee answered. “But first I need to know what is in her body.”
Mabel looked up. “You think somebody drugged her?”
Dr. Lee’s eyes stayed on Eleanor. “I think she has been sick for a long time. Malnourished. Dehydrated. Maybe infected. But this is not only illness. I would bet on sedatives. Maybe pain pills. Too much of something, too often, or given in a way it should never have been given.”
Given.
That word sat in the room heavier than thunder.
For three days, Eleanor fought her way back.
She screamed when a truck door slammed outside. She flinched when Calvin stepped into the doorway, even though he never crossed the room without asking. She apologized every time Mabel brought her water.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered on the second day.
Mabel planted one hand on her hip. “For what? Being thirsty?”
Eleanor stared at the blanket. “I don’t know.”
That answer told Mabel more than any bruise ever could.
On the fourth afternoon, the fever finally broke.
Eleanor opened her eyes to weak sunlight, the smell of coffee, and a red cardinal tapping at the window like it had business with the living.
Mabel sat beside the bed, knitting something lumpy and blue.
“Where am I?” Eleanor asked.
Mabel lowered the yarn, looked her straight in the face, and opened her mouth to tell her the one thing Garrett had spent three years making sure she would never hear…— (Full Details Below
) Have a great time, everyone!
