Gasping for air, Elena performed CPR on the children right there on the grass. She didn’t stop until they both coughed and opened their eyes. Only then did she collapse.
Elena woke up in the county hospital two days later. The first person she saw was Susan, sitting in a chair by the bed.
Susan’s face was unreadable. She thanked Elena for saving her children. She said she could never forgive the affair, but she would never forget that Elena had walked into a fire to save her blood.
Susan told her she was taking the kids and moving to her sister’s place in another state. The house was gone, and there was nothing left for her here. She said she didn’t care about the house—it was Andrew’s house, and she wanted nothing of his anymore.
Then, Susan looked at Elena’s bandaged face. She noted with a grim satisfaction that Elena’s beauty had been “burned away.” She told her that no man would ever look at her the same way again.
“I put that photo in the casket hoping you’d die,” Susan said coldly. “But this is better. Living like that is a longer sentence.”
Elena didn’t argue. She just watched Susan walk out of the room. When the nurse came in a few minutes later, Elena was staring at the ceiling, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
The nurse patted her hand, telling her she needed to stay calm and keep her strength up. “For the baby’s sake,” the nurse whispered.
Elena sat up, ignoring the sting of her burns. She asked the nurse to repeat what she’d said. The nurse smiled and confirmed it—Elena was nearly two months pregnant.
Comments are closed.