The car pulled onto the emergency shoulder of the highway, and I figured Ethan needed to use the bathroom. "Sophie's asleep. Keep it down." I pulled the little blanket up over my daughter's shoulders. Ethan didn't look back. His fingers tapped the steering wheel. "Claire. Take Sophie and get out." I stared at him. "What?" From the back seat, Vanessa's voice came out soft and smooth. "Ethan, it's fine. We can squeeze." Her daughter Madison immediately started crying. "I don't want to sit next to that dirty kid! She was coughing on me!" Ethan turned around. His eyes were colder than I'd ever seen them. "You hear me? Get out." "Beth's already on her way. She'll be here in thirty minutes." "You two wait here." December 28th. The interstate. Twelve degrees. I climbed out holding my three-year-old daughter. I watched him start the engine. The taillights got smaller in the snow. Until they were gone. The snow came down harder. I stood at the guardrail on the shoulder, trying to use my body to block the wind. "Mommy, where's Daddy?" Sophie asked. Her cheeks were already red from the cold. "Daddy went ahead to Grandma's." I forced a smile. "Aunt Beth's coming to get us." "But it's cold." I wrapped her inside my coat and wound my scarf around her head. My phone was at thirty percent. I called Beth. Once. Twice. Three times. She picked up. "Claire? What's up?" There was noise in the background. A karaoke bar, by the sound of it. "Beth, your brother sent you to come get us. Where are you?" "Oh, right." A pause. "Yeah, he did mention that." "But I'm out with friends right now. Can't really leave." "Just hang tight. I'll head over later." "Beth, it's freezing on the highway. Sophie can't take this." "God, Claire, you're so dramatic. What's a little wait?" "Ethan said Vanessa and Madison couldn't handle the cold. They had to get back right away." "You're both fine. You're not gonna die from waiting." She hung up. I stood there holding the phone, my fingers too stiff to move. I called Ethan. Straight to voicemail. Again. Same thing. Sophie shivered in my arms. "Mommy, I wanna go home." "Soon. We'll be home soon." I kissed her forehead. My eyes burned. Four years of marriage. And this was the first time I understood how far Ethan could actually go. Willing to leave his own wife and daughter stranded on the interstate in a snowstorm. Because Vanessa's kid didn't want to sit next to mine. Headlights appeared in the distance. I waved like my life depended on it. A black SUV slowed and stopped in front of us. The window came down. A young guy. "Need help?" I grabbed onto it like a lifeline. "Can you take us to the next rest stop? That's all I need." He looked at Sophie in my arms and frowned. "Get in." "Thank you. Oh my God, thank you." I reached for the door handle. "Claire?" I froze. Another head leaned out from the back seat.
It was Ethan's cousin, Jake. He looked at me. Then at the empty stretch of highway behind me. "What are you doing out here? Where's Ethan?" I gave him the short version. Jake's face went stone hard. "He lost his mind? He left you and Sophie out here?" "Vanessa's kid is a person. Isn't his own daughter?" He swore a few times, then turned to the driver. "Mike, let them in. We'll make it work." The front was already full. The back seat next to Jake was packed too. "There's no room," the driver said. Jake was already getting out. "Then you guys go. I'll wait here." "You can't do that." "Go!" Jake pushed me toward the car. "Sophie's lips are turning purple. She can't stay out here." I got in the back with Sophie. The heat hit me like a wall. My frozen body started to sting. Jake shut the door and knocked on the window. "Claire, call me when you get to the rest stop. I'll have my brother come get you." "Jake, it's freezing. What are you going to do?" "I'm a grown man. I'll survive. Take care of the kid. Go." The car pulled away. I watched Jake through the back window, standing in the snow, getting smaller. My throat tightened. My husband left us on the side of the road. And the person who saved us was someone who barely owed us anything. Sophie fell asleep in my arms. Her little face was still that wrong shade of red. I pressed my hand to her forehead. Burning hot. "Can you go faster? My daughter has a fever." The driver nodded and sped up. I grabbed my phone to call Beth again. No signal. Mountain stretch. "How far to the rest stop?" "Twelve miles. But in this weather, at least thirty minutes." Thirty minutes. I held Sophie tighter and kept touching her forehead. Hotter and hotter. "Baby. Hey. Wake up. Don't sleep." Sophie's eyes cracked open, dazed. "Mommy, I don't feel good." "I know. We're almost at the hospital. Hold on." Then she started coughing. Hard. Her whole face went purple. I patted her back. The tears came. "Please, faster. Please." "This is as fast as I can go! The road's icy!" Sophie's coughing got worse. Her breathing turned into a wheeze. "Mommy. I can't breathe." I pulled her coat open. Her chest was heaving. I recognized it. Acute pneumonia. She'd had it once before, when she was two. We almost lost her then. "Sophie. Look at me. Keep your eyes open." "I'll tell you a story. About the little bunny." Her eyelids drooped. Her breathing went thin. I slammed my palms on the window. "Help! She's not okay! Somebody help!" But it was a highway. Just snow and wind and nothing else.
We finally pulled into the rest stop. I ran into the convenience store with Sophie in my arms, barely able to make a sound. "Is there a doctor? My daughter needs help. Please." The clerk looked terrified. "There's no doctor here." "Call 911. Now." "The cell tower's down. We can't get through." My legs gave out. I caught myself on the counter. Sophie had gone quiet in my arms. The motel manager at the rest stop dug around and found a box of fever reducers and some antibiotics. "Try giving her these?" My hands shook so badly I couldn't get the packaging open. Sophie lay across my lap. Her breathing was barely there. I crushed a tablet and tried to get it into her mouth. She didn't have the strength to swallow. It dribbled out the side of her lips. "Baby. Swallow it. Please." The manager looked away. "I could drive you to the county hospital. But in this snow, the road might be closed." "Drive. Right now. Please." I pushed every dollar in my wallet into his hands. "Please." He clenched his jaw. "Alright. Let's go." The car crawled through the snow. Every bump made Sophie's body go a little more limp. I held her hand and kept talking. "Sophie. You know how you've been asking about Disney World? Mom's gonna take you." "We'll ride the biggest carousel they have." "And you wanted the Elsa dress, right? We're getting it." "And Universal Studios. They have the Transformers ride. You love those guys." Her lashes fluttered. But her eyes didn't open. My phone suddenly buzzed. Signal. I called Ethan. It rang a long time. He picked up. "Yeah." Background was quiet. He was home. "Ethan." My voice had nothing left in it. "Sophie's really sick. It's serious." "Where are you?" Perfectly calm. Like we were talking about the weather. "On the way to a county hospital. You need to come." "Claire." He cut me off. "Didn't Beth pick you up?" "She never came. She didn't come at all." "That's not possible. She posted on Instagram that she was on her way." I pulled up her profile. Ten minutes ago. A selfie. Highway in the background. Caption: "Going to get my sis-in-law. Big brother, you're welcome." Location: a hundred miles from where we were. She hadn't moved. She lied to Ethan. She lied to me. "You see it?" Ethan said. "She's almost there. Just wait a little longer." "There's no time. Sophie's dying. Our daughter is dying, Ethan." "Claire." His voice dropped. "Don't say stuff like that. It's Christmas. Don't be dramatic." "Vanessa and her daughter just got here. My mom's happy. Don't ruin it." "Once Beth picks you up, take Sophie to a walk-in clinic. Kids get fevers all the time. It's not a big deal." "Stop being hysterical." He hung up. I sat there holding the phone. All the blood in my body felt cold. The manager glanced back in the mirror. "That your husband?" I nodded. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, and hit the gas. "Hang on. I know a shortcut. We're not letting this kid go." He turned onto a mountain road. The snow was worse out there.
Sophie's breathing was almost nothing. I pressed my fingers to her chest. A heartbeat. Barely. "Sophie. Don't scare Mommy." "Mommy messed up. Mommy should've known better." "Mommy should never have married him." "Mommy is so sorry she let this happen to you." I was crying when I reached into my inside pocket and pulled out a small metal device. The size of a button. My dad gave it to me. He said: "Claire, if there's ever a day when Ethan's family treats you badly because Sophie's a girl, press this." I pressed it. No sound. But I knew the signal went out. Dad said once I pressed it, his people would be there within three hours. Three hours. Could Sophie last three hours? The county hospital. I ran through the ER doors with Sophie. My voice was gone. The nurse took one look at Sophie and called for backup. "Acute pneumonia. Heart rate dropping. We need a team now." They pulled her out of my arms and through the doors. I stood behind the glass and watched them put a tube down her throat and hook her up to monitors. That tiny body on that big bed. She looked like she could disappear at any moment. I slid down the wall in the hallway. My phone rang. Ethan. I picked up. Said nothing. "Claire, where are you?" Impatient. "Mom wants to eat dinner." I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. "Say something." "Hospital." I pushed out the word. "Sophie's in surgery." "What? Why are you at a hospital? Where's Beth?" "She never showed up." "That's impossible. She just texted me. Said she picked you up." I opened the family group chat. Twenty minutes ago. Beth: "Ethan, got her. On our way back now." A photo attached. Blurry interior of a car. Passenger seat. A woman's back. Wearing a coat just like mine. That was a photo of me. From before. She had it ready. She planned this. "She's lying," I said. "Ethan, you need to come to the hospital. Right now." Silence. "Ethan." "Claire." A pause. "Are you actually in the hospital, or are you just pulling this because you're upset Vanessa's here?" I couldn't breathe. "You think I'm making this up?"
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