Then an avalanche of decorations, photographs, and hardcovers rained down around Margaret as she collapsed against the bottom shelf.
Lauren screamed.
“You pushed Mom!”
Daniel did not answer.
He turned his back on both women.
Emily was still lying on the stairs.
He dropped to his knees beside her.
“Baby, look at me.”
Her face was pale.
“I can’t tell if she’s moving.”
Daniel froze.
Their daughter.
The child they had waited almost four years to conceive.
He placed one shaking hand on Emily’s shoulder.
“Don’t move.”
“I need to know if she’s okay.”
“We’re calling an ambulance.”
Lauren shouted behind him.
“You can’t just ignore what you did!”
Daniel looked over his shoulder.
His mother sat among fallen books.
Lauren stood beside her.
For the first time in his life, Daniel saw them differently.
Not as his mother and sister.
As people who had been allowed to cross every boundary because he had never forced them to stop.
His voice became frighteningly calm.
“Get out of my house.”
Margaret stared at him.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“This is our family home.”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“This is my house. Emily’s house. And our child’s house.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“You’re throwing us out?”
“You nearly killed my wife.”
“I didn’t—”
“I saw you.”
Daniel pointed toward the front door.
“Get out.”
Margaret struggled to stand.
“You will regret speaking to your mother this way.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
Then back at Margaret.
“The thing I regret is letting this continue for so long.”
The distant sound of sirens began outside.
Emily had managed to press the emergency alert on her phone during the argument.
Daniel knelt beside her again.
He took her hand.
“I’m right here.”
Emily squeezed weakly.
“What if something happened to her?”
Daniel swallowed the terror rising in his throat.
“We’re going to find out.”
Paramedics rushed through the front door minutes later.
The hallway filled with emergency bags, urgent voices, and flashing red light reflecting through the windows.
They stabilized Emily’s neck.
Checked her blood pressure.
Listened for the baby’s heartbeat.
Daniel stood nearby, unable to breathe.
One paramedic pressed the monitor against Emily’s abdomen.
Static.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
The paramedic adjusted the device.
Static again.
Emily began crying.
“Please.”
Then—
A rapid rhythm filled the hallway.
Fast.
Strong.
Alive.
Emily sobbed.
Daniel closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he could not speak.
The baby was alive.
But the paramedic’s expression remained serious.
“We need to transport her immediately.”
Daniel nodded.
“I’m coming.”
As the stretcher rolled toward the front door, Emily reached for him.
Daniel took her hand.
Behind them, Margaret spoke.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
She stood beside Lauren.
For once, neither woman looked powerful.
They looked uncertain.
Daniel stared at them.
Then at the staircase.
Then at the place where his wife had fallen.
Something had ended in that hallway.
He simply did not know yet how much of his old life had died with it.
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