“You can take her hand,” the doctor said. “Jo Ellen. I am going to ask you some questions and I want you to squeeze for yes. Can you do that?”
Squeeze.
“Are you in pain?”
A pause. Then, a small squeeze.
“A little? Okay. We will manage that. Are you having any trouble seeing?”
Nothing.
“Good. Are you able to breathe alongside the tube? Are you trying to breathe with it?”
Squeeze.
“Strongly?”
She squeezed and her chest rose with a breath.
Dr. Halpern turned to Marcus.
“Let’s take the tube out,” she said. “I think she’s ready and I can do a more thorough assessment. Kate, can you wait outside?”
Kate finally took her eyes off Mom to look at the doctor. “Is she okay?”
The other woman smiled. “We’ll know more in a minute, but in my opinion? She sailed past okay and somehow made it to good.”
“Oh.” The whimper escaped and Kate let go of her mother’s hand slowly. “I’ll be right outside, Mom.” She leaned closer, her whole body quivering from the experience. “I love you.”
When she opened the door into the hall, the light blinded her after the half-dark of the room. Her legs vibrated and she grabbed the door jamb for support.
The first person she saw was Eli, just outside the family lounge, his face pale, his eyes pinned on her as he rushed closer.
“She coded,” he said flatly. “I heard the announcement. Is she…” His voice trailed off, searching Kate’s face. “Please, tell me she’s all right.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She didn’t know how to put that experience into words. She almost didn’t want to. She had to hold it first, examine it, relive it, walk through every minute and remember that…her prayer had been answered.
“Kate, what happened?”
“A miracle,” she whispered, leaning into him. “I just witnessed a full-blown miracle.”
For what feltlike a long time, Eli held Kate in the corridor and didn’t ask another question.
His hand rested on the back of her head, holding her with the utmost care, letting her catch her breath and the wild, wild thoughts that spiraled from her brain to her heart right down to her feet.
She dropped her forehead against the front of his shirt, decompressing as adrenaline surged and dropped through her whole body.
After a long moment, he drew back. “A good miracle, I hope.”
“Is there any other kind?”
He slid into a tentative smile as she wiped her face with her fingertips.
“She’s awake,” she said. “She knew me. They’re taking the tube out.” She felt her voice catch. “I think she’s herself, Eli. She came back. But, wow. What a ride.”
Eli closed his eyes for one second and squeezed her again. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“She started to…fail. Heart, lungs, a seizure. Every vital crashed. Everything. I thought she was…gone. I swear she was gone. And then…she pulled through. It was…unbelievable.”
