A tear escaped each of Madison’s eyes. “Don’t talk like that, Max. We’re so close. We almost have everything we want. Everything we’ve been denied for so long. We’ve just got to stay strong, and finish this.”
“Honey, let’s be smart, okay? I think it’s too late. The police are here. It’s time to end this.”
Madison’s face fell. The gun lowered just a couple of inches as she turned her face toward Max, wearing a look of pure heartbreak. “What? Baby, don’t say that.”
“This baby is my son—that makes you his stepmother,” said Max in a soothing tone. “He’s ours, no matter what. So just put the gun down, and let them take Savannah to a hospital, so we can make sure Charlie is okay.”
Madison stared at him.
Still on all fours, tiny rocks cutting into the skin on my knees, I tried to keep breathing deeply, in and out. I didn’t dare move, in case Madison changed her mind and decided to shoot me.
The pressure inside me was growing intense. Despite the chilly forest air, I was dripping with sweat from the exertion of trying to hold this baby back as long as possible.
Madison looked down at me again. “But what are we going to do about her?” She waved her gun at me. “She’s always getting in the way! I just know once she has this baby, she’ll never let me near him. This baby should be ours, Max!”
“He will be, sweetheart. We’ll get the best lawyer there is, who will help us make sure Savannah has no choice but to give us plenty of time with the baby. He’ll be our son, Madison—yours and mine.” Max groaned and leaned his weight against a tree. “But, honey, that will never happen if you don’t listen to the police officers and put the gun down. They are not going to let you hurt Savannah. We have to just end this peacefully and let her go to the hospital. And me too, babe … I don’t know how much longer I can make it.”
Madison’s eyes widened in fear. “Max—are you okay? Hold on, baby! Don’t leave me!”
Tears slid freely down Madison’s cheeks as she looked at her husband, pale as death in the early morning light. He clutched his rib cage, his face pinched tightly in pain.
I sent a silent prayer up into the grayish sky.Please, God, please let her listen to him. Please let this end.
Madison’s hands shook slightly, but still she held the gun pointed at me. Then I heard her whisper two words under her breath as she stared into my eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
I knew in that moment that I would never forget how her face looked when she uttered those words. It was like the whole world froze for just a moment as we looked intently into each other’s eyes. My entire future hung in the balance, teetering like a seesaw—if it landed one way, I would get to have my baby safely, and Madison would go to jail. If it landed the other way, she would shoot me—and whether or not my baby lived, I would never get to be its mother.
I held my breath.
Then, a red-hot fire ignited inside me, engulfing me in blinding pain. I screamed and fell over onto my side.
The next few minutes seemed to go by in slow motion.
Two officers advanced toward us, their guns raised at Madison, screaming orders at her. Madison dropped the gun and held her arms up. An officer ordered her to her knees, training his gun on her as his partner patted her down for more weapons, then cuffed her hands behind her back. They led her away, toward the police vehicles.
“No! Max—you have to help my husband. Please! She shot him!” Madison craned her neck, trying to catch another glimpse of him.
As a fresh scream ripped out of my throat, a group of EMTs that I hadn’t noticed arrive ran over. Two of them lifted me onto a wheeled gurney while two others rushed over toward Max where he’d fallen to the ground, too weak to stand anymore.
I screamed and howled as they ran, wheeling my gurney toward the ambulance. One of the paramedics checked between my legs, and I vaguely heard her say something that included the words “baby’s head.”
The next thing I knew, they were changing direction, heading not toward the ambulance anymore, but back into the cabin. I barely got my dirty, cut, and bleeding feet into stirrups before the next contraction hit, and the EMT was yelling at me: “Push! Push!”
My whole world turned blood red. I felt myself teetering on the edge of consciousness—until I heard it.
The sound of my baby’s cry.
CHAPTER38
THE WHOLEWORLDdisappeared.
One of the EMTs handed me a bundle in a blanket. Though I was nearly blind with pain and exhaustion, I’ll never forget the moment I first laid eyes on my son. My eyes combed his entire body, taking in every wrinkle, every tiny toe and finger—and those beautiful brown eyes, framed by whisper-thin lashes and delicate wisps of brown hair.
I was so captivated by the sight of my son and still so overcome by shock that I was actually holding him in my arms, I only vaguely registered the flurry of activity going on around me. The EMTs wheeled my gurney back out into the early morning light, and immediately into the ambulance, which took us to a nearby hospital. I didn’t even notice I had been taken to a post-delivery room in the maternity ward until a nurse dressed in lime green scrubs and a face mask finally captured my attention and told me they needed to take my son to be examined, to make sure he was okay.
As soon as my arms were empty, the gravity of my situation finally settled, like a thousand-pound weight placed right on my chest. My feet felt like they had been through a wood chipper, and looked like it too, covered in cuts, bruises, and ugly friction burns.
