(Jasper's POV)

She burst out of the elevator like she hadn't seen any of us at all.

Her auburn hair was loose, her green eyes wild, and she was already calling the boy's name before her feet hit the floor. She brushed past me so close I felt the air move. I turned without thinking and watched her go-a small, quick woman with her whole body aimed like an arrow down the corridor.

Henry watched her too. "That's got to be the kid's mom," he said quietly. "She's pretty."

I didn't respond. I stepped into the elevator and Henry followed.

The doors slid shut.

"Tomorrow morning," I said. "Cancel everything."

Henry pulled out his phone. "All of it?"

"All of it. I need to go to the fire station. Liam's things are still there."

Henry went quiet. He didn't say anything, which was the right call. There was nothing to say about Liam that wouldn't make it worse.

Over a year. My brother had been gone that long, and none of us had managed to collect his things from the station where he'd worked for six years. Every time I thought about walking through that door, something in me refused to move. I'd identified the body. I'd handled the paperwork. I'd sat with my mother while she stopped eating and started disappearing. I'd done everything a person was supposed to do.

I hadn't cried once.

The elevator hummed downward. I stared at the number display and felt the back of my eyes go hot and tight, the way they did sometimes late at night when I was alone and the apartment was too quiet.

I blinked it back.

Henry pretended not to notice.

(Eliana's POV)

I saw him the second I turned the corner.

Oliver was standing in the middle of the hallway with Dr. Evans beside him, holding a phone he'd apparently borrowed from someone. His face was blotchy and wet and he looked so small that my chest cracked straight down the middle.

I dropped to my knees and pulled him into my arms.

He grabbed on immediately, both fists twisting into my jacket. "Mom. Mom, I'm sorry, I came out to find you and then I didn't know which way and-"

"Shh." I held him tighter. "I've got you. You're okay. I've got you."

He sniffled hard against my shoulder. "I'm sorry I made you scared."

"It's okay. I found you. That's all that matters."

I stayed there for a moment with my face pressed into his hair, just breathing. Then I straightened up and looked at Dr. Evans. "Thank you. For staying with him."

"Of course." He smiled. "He's been moved up to the hematology ward. Room 508. The team up there is excellent."

"Thank you," I said again.

Oliver looked up at me and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Will Dad come?"

The question landed somewhere soft and unprotected.

I looked at his face-those big blue eyes, still red-rimmed, watching me with the particular hope that only a five-year-old can manage-and I made myself smile.

"He's just finishing up some things," I said. "He'll come when he's done."

Oliver considered this, then nodded, and slipped his hand back into mine.

We walked toward the elevator together.

We hadn't been back in the room for twenty minutes when the door opened.

Nathan walked in first. Behind him came Miranda, her coat buttoned wrong, and Arthur, moving slowly with his cane. They'd come together. Of course they had.

Nathan went straight to Oliver's bedside without looking at me. He sat on the edge of the bed and ruffled Oliver's hair and said something that made Oliver give a small, tired smile.

I crossed the room to my parents and kept my voice low.

"Why are you here with him?"

Miranda blinked. "He called us, Eliana. He was worried-"

"I told you I would call when I had something to tell you."

"You weren't answering your phone." Arthur's voice was flat. "What were we supposed to do?"

"Wait." I looked between them. "You were supposed to wait. I asked you to wait."

Miranda's expression shifted into something familiar-that particular tightening around the eyes that meant she was about to defend someone who didn't deserve it. "Eliana, Nathan is out there working himself to the bone trying to keep that family afloat, and you're in here cutting him off and making everything harder than it has to be. You need to stop this."

"Making everything harder," I repeated.

"You don't work, you're home all day, and you're still picking fights-"

"I don't work." I kept my voice very controlled. "I left my job because Nathan asked me to. He asked me three times. And for the past two years I have been handling every technical problem that company has had, quietly, from home, without a salary or a title, because he said it was better that way."

Arthur looked at me with those flat, tired eyes. "So what are you saying? You want a medal?"

"I'm saying I'm not the problem here."

He leaned forward slightly. "Are you planning to divorce him?"

I didn't look away. "He's the one who wants the divorce. His ex-girlfriend is back in town. She has a daughter. He wants them to move in."

The room went very still.

Miranda stood there with her mouth slightly open.

I watched her face and waited for it-waited for the anger on my behalf, the outrage, something. She was my mother. I had just told her my husband wanted to leave me for another woman and move that woman into our home.

"Are you sure?" Miranda said finally. "Because sometimes men do things when they feel like they're not getting enough-I mean, if there were problems at home, maybe you could have-"

"Stop." My voice came out harder than I intended.

She stopped.

I stood there and felt the familiar weight of it settle back onto my shoulders. The weight I'd been carrying since I was old enough to understand that in this family, I was the one who explained herself. I was the one who justified. Leo could fail out of two colleges and come home with his hand out and my parents would talk about how much pressure he was under. I could work myself into the ground and still be standing in a hospital hallway being asked what I'd done wrong.

I thought about every school play they'd missed because Leo had a game. Every birthday dinner that turned into an argument about his debts. Every time I'd needed something and been told to be patient, be understanding, be grateful.

I was so tired of being grateful.

Nathan must have sensed the shift in the room. He said something quiet to Oliver, then stood and walked over.

"Miranda, Arthur." His voice was smooth and easy. "Why don't you two keep Oliver company for a few minutes? Eliana and I should talk."

Arthur looked at him directly. "Nathan. Eliana says you want a divorce. Is that true?"

Nathan didn't hesitate. "Yes. I'll make sure Eliana is taken care of financially. But Oliver stays with me."

I raised my head and looked at him. All the things I'd been holding back for months were right there, just behind my teeth.

"If Oliver has leukemia," I said, "do you still want him?"

Nathan's face went white. "What did you just say?"