I race behind them through the foyer and into the center hall.
The first thing I notice is the sound of the dogs yelping from the kitchen and frantically scratching on the closed door. From the corner of my eye, I catch a movement in the living room and turn to see a cluster of people there. Blake is at the far end, kneeling, his back to me and his arms moving like pistons.Chest compressions.
As soon as I see the shoes, I know that it’s Claire sprawled out on the floor. And that Blake is trying to save her life.
9
We need you to please step away now,” one of the paramedics tells Blake.
He rises and lurches backward. In the second before the ambulance crew take over, I catch a glimpse of my mother-in-law. She’s deadly pale, her eyes are closed, and her mouth is twisted into a terrible grimace.
Did she have a heart attack?I wonder, my breath trapped in my chest.
I quickly absorb the rest of the scene. Ash, his face nearly as white as Claire’s, is standing nearby and Blake has placed an arm around him protectively. Marcus, Nick, Wendy, and Bonnie are here, too, in a ragged semicircle, looking on in horror.
“What happened?” I whisper to Marcus, stepping closer and grasping his arm.
“Not sure,” he mutters. “We were all out by the pool, and Bonnie came running out to get us. God—”
“What about Gabe? Does he know?”
“No, it all happened so fast. I’m not sure where he is.”
He must still be in the cottage.
My whole body feels weighted down by dread, but I force myself to run there.Please, please, I pray as I propel myself along the flagstone path,please let her be okay. It seems to take forever to reach the cottage, like I’m trying to run through water, but I finally shove open the front door to find Gabe and Henry on the couch, watching a video on Gabe’s laptop. The volume’s so high, neither one hears me arrive, and clearly they didn’t hear the siren, either.
“Gabe,” I shout from the doorway. When he glances up with a start, I flick my hand in a beckoning motion for him to come to me.
“Keep watching,” he tells Henry as he jumps up and hurries toward me, barefoot.
“You need to get over to the house,” I whisper. “Your mom collapsed for some reason and paramedics are here, working on her.”
“Jesus.” There’s panic in his eyes. He takes five frantic seconds to shove his feet into a pair of espadrilles by the coffee table, and then he’s off, charging up the path toward the house.
“Is something the matter?” Henry asks, finally tearing his eyes off the screen.
“Gee’s not feeling well, and Dad needs to check on her.”
“Should I pause the movie?”
“Uh, no, why don’t you keep watching, sweetie. And do you mind staying here for a little while by yourself? I want to check on Gee, too.”
“Okay. Is she throwing up?”
“No, not throwing up,” I tell him. If only it were that simple.
Though I’m only a minute or so behind Gabe, he must have run like crazy because I don’t spot him ahead on the path. By the time I burst through the side door of the house and reach the living room, no one’s there. I find them all in the circular driveway, joined now by Keira and Hannah, watching in anguish as Claire is hoisted on a gurney into the back of the ambulance. Blake and Ash are talking to the driver through the window about which hospital she’s being taken to. The paramedics jump into the back of the ambulance and pull the doors shut with a double clang.
“Okay, Dad and I are going to follow them to the hospital in Doylestown,” Blake announces as the ambulance pulls out of the driveway. It’s a town I know is about twenty-five minutes away. “Who’s coming with us?”
Marcus and Nick shout in unison that they are.
“Wh-why don’t I drive my own car,” Gabe says. “The keys are in it. And it’ll be better to have two there.”
“I’m coming, too,” Wendy announces and grabs Blake’s hand.
“I want to go,” I tell Gabe, “but someone needs to stay with Henry.”
