She stared at him. May pulled in another breath. That thin terrible whistle.
Children’s, Hadley said. East Tennessee Children’s.
My car is downstairs.
She hesitated only for a second, but he saw it. She had come by bus. A ride on Christmas Eve was showing three times the normal price, and that was money she didn’t have. And this man owned the building where she had just broken the rules. Every one of them. May coughed again. Hadley grabbed the diaper bag.
In the elevator, she dialed the nurse line printed on the back of May’s insurance card. A calm voice in Knoxville listened to the bark through the phone.
“That sounds like Croo,” the nurse said. “Bring her in and get her into cold air on the way. It helps.”
In the parking garage, Jude didn’t argue about anything. He opened the back door of a dark gray sedan and Hadley climbed in with May held against her chest. There was no car seat. She knew it was wrong. She knew waiting was worse.
Jude started the engine. Then he rolled down every window. The night came in like a slap. 30°. Hadley pulled her coat around May and pressed her daughter’s cheek against her own neck. Breathe, baby. Just breathe.
Jude drove carefully. Not fast. Steady. Nobody spoke. The wind roared through the car. Somewhere on the Henley Street Bridge, high above the black water of the river, the whistle changed. It got softer, then a little softer. Hadley closed her eyes. In the front seat, Jude’s hands tightened on the wheel. He was listening, too. Two strangers in a freezing car on Christmas Eve, both holding their breath so a baby could catch hers.
At the emergency entrance, a nurse took one look at May and waved them straight back. Jude stopped at the doors.
“I’ll be out here,” he said.
He didn’t follow her in. Hadley noticed that it was Croo. A doctor with reindeer socks listened to May’s chest, gave her a dose of steroid medicine in a tiny syringe, and said they’d watch her for 3 hours.
“She’s going to be fine,” the doctor said. “You did the right thing getting her here fast.”
Hadley nodded. She didn’t trust her voice.
