Joe lay stretched across Abby’s bed while she paced near the window, her voice soft as she spoke into the phone. He could hear Lucas’s deep timbre through the speaker, but the words blurred together. His thoughts kept circling back to the conversation with Maddox. To hospitals. To the sharp smell of antiseptic. To needles in his arms.
His body was slowly tightening again, dread coiling low in his gut.
“Look.” Abby suddenly dropped onto the mattress beside him, thrusting the phone into his face.
He blinked, refocusing.
On the screen, a tiny baby stared up with enormous blue eyes.
“That’s Maddie,” Abby said softly. “Lucas and Celia’s baby.”
The infant’s blond hair was so pale it looked almost white against her delicate skin. Her cheeks were plump and pink, her lips rosy and perfect.
“
