Chapter 16

Ash had never driven so fast as he did after Violet called him, telling him that Martha was in the emergency room. He burst through the hospital doors and practically ran over at least one nurse to get to the front desk. He was so out of sorts that the attending nurse had to get him to take a deep breath before he could eke out the words Martha, Fielding, where?

“Ash!” Abby Thornton hurried up to him, which wasn’t particularly fast given the size of her pregnant belly. She took his arm. “Let me take you to Violet. She said you were coming.”

Ash let Abby lead him to a waiting room not far from the nurses’ station. There, he found Violet slumped in a chair, her eyes closed and her face pale.

“Violet, baby.” He sat down next to her and took her hands, chafing them because they were so cold. “I’m here. It’s me.”

Her eyelids fluttered open. A second later, her face crumpled, and she started crying into his shoulder. Ash didn’t even notice that Abby had left them alone; he didn’t care ab