Chapter 30
Nellie woke the next morning feeling better than she had in longer than she could easily remember.
She lay still for a long moment beneath the covers, simply breathing, marveling at how easy it felt, how her chest no longer ached with each inhale the way it had for weeks now. She sat up slowly, testing the movement, waiting for the familiar heaviness to settle back into her limbs the way it always had upon waking these past months.
It did not come.
She rose from the bed and crossed to the small mirror set against the far wall, studying her reflection in the morning light streaming through the window. Color had returned to her cheeks, a healthy warmth she had not seen looking back at her in longer than she cared to admit. The grayish undertone that had settled beneath her ski
