Chapter 442: Even If I Shatter to Pieces, I Must See Them Again

So many tears, so much sweat — and still they kept coming, flooding my eyes until the room dissolved into nothing but blurred shapes and light. My lips trembled around his name. "Ca — Carl."

I had never seen Lewis like this. He crossed the room in an instant, dropping to his knees beside me, cupping my face in both hands as though he needed to hold it still, needed to confirm I was real. "Elena, I’m sorry." His voice broke on the words, splitting cleanly down the middle. His dark eyes were glassy, and I felt the heat of his tears land on my cheek — that undid something in me that I had been keeping together through sheer will. I looked up at him and managed to whisper, "Carl — the baby. There’s still one more that hasn’t come yet."

That snapped him back. He turned and saw the infant lying in a pool of blood, umbilical cord still uncut, wailing at the top of her lungs with a fury that seemed impossible for something so small and newly arrived in the world. He turned back to me, steadied. "Elena, don’t be afraid. The doctor is here. You’re almost done — the position is right, she’s crowning. Just a little more."

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