Chapter 5 - The Seattle Sanctuary
Forty-eight hours later, the blizzard had passed, leaving the Cascade Mountains draped in a brilliant, blinding blanket of white under a clear blue winter sky.
A private medical helicopter landed on the helipad of Harborview Medical Center in downtown Seattle.
Nathan stepped off the aircraft holding five-year-old Lily in his left arm and carrying Owen in a chest carrier, while Rosa walked beside him holding Ethan.
The hospital’s Chief of Surgery, Dr. Richard Sterling—a longtime colleague of Nathan’s—was waiting by the sliding glass doors with two pediatric nurses.
“Nathan,” Dr. Sterling said, offering a warm, reassuring hand. “She’s out of the ICU. They successfully evacuated the subdural hematoma yesterday morning. She woke up two hours ago.”
Nathan felt a surge of nervous adrenaline rush through his veins. He hadn't seen his sister’s conscious face in seven long years. The last time they had spoken, horrible, bitter words had been thrown like knives in his entryway.
He walked down the quiet, carpeted hallway of the fifth-floor recovery wing until he reached Room 512.
The room was bathed in soft afternoon sunlight streaming through the high windows overlooking Puget Sound.
Sarah lay in the center of the bed, her head wrapped in clean white surgical bandages, an IV running into her arm. Her face was pale and bruised, but her green eyes—the exact same eyes as Lily’s—were open, staring longingly at the door.
When the door pushed open, Sarah’s breath hitched.
“Lily...” Sarah whimpered, her raspy voice breaking. “My baby...”
“Mommy!” Lily cried, wiggling out of Nathan’s arms and running to the side of the hospital bed. She carefully climbed onto the edge, wrapping her small arms around Sarah’s neck, burying her face against her mother’s hospital gown.
Sarah clutched her daughter with every ounce of strength remaining in her fragile body, crying hysterically, kissing Lily’s hair, her forehead, her cheeks.
“You did it, baby,” Sarah sobbed. “You saved your brothers... you found him... my brave, brave little girl...”
Nathan stood in the doorway, his hands trembling as he held the baby carriers. He felt like an intruder, a man who didn't deserve to share in this sacred moment after abandoning his sister for so long.
Sarah slowly looked up from Lily’s head, her tear-filled green eyes meeting Nathan’s across the quiet room.
For a long, agonizing moment, neither of them spoke. Seven years of pain, regret, pride, and sorrow hung in the warm air between them.
Nathan took two slow steps forward, setting the baby carriers on the leather chair beside the bed.
“Sarah...” Nathan choked out, his voice cracking completely. “I’m... I’m so sorry. I should have come for you. I should have stopped him seven years ago. I let my stupid, arrogant pride—”
“Nathan, stop,” Sarah interrupted softly, reaching out her pale, thin hand from the bed.
May you like
Nathan grabbed her hand, dropping to his knees beside her bed, burying his face against the white sheets as deep, heavy sobs wracked his body.
Sarah stroked her brother’s silvering hair with her frail fingers, tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. “You took them in, Nathan. You saved my children. You saved my life. There is nothing to forgive... brother.”
