Chapter 3 - Into the Storm
"The emergency services aren't dispatching ambulances for non-life-threatening calls right now," Walter said grimly, hanging up the landline phone in the kitchen. "The storm has downed power lines on the main highway. The county is completely paralyzed."
"She's four months old! A 104-degree fever is life-threatening!" Claire cried out, her voice cracking. She held Lily tightly against her chest, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. The baby was whimpering, a weak, terrible sound that tore through the room. "Please... somebody help me."
Nathan didn't hesitate. All his corporate coldness, his ego, his calculated distance vanished in an instant.
"Get her warm clothes," Nathan ordered, throwing off his sweater and grabbing his heavy winter parka from the closet. "I’m taking you to the county hospital."
"Nathan, are you crazy?!" Serena shouted, stepping into his path. "Look outside! The visibility is zero! You'll freeze to death or wreck the car in a ditch!"
"I have the heavy-duty snow tires on the Range Rover," Nathan said, his eyes blazing with a singular, fierce determination. "I know these back roads better than anyone. I’m not letting a four-month-old baby suffer."
He looked directly at Claire. "Trust me, Claire. I'll get you there."
Claire looked into Nathan’s eyes. For years, she had seen him as self-absorbed and distant. But right now, standing in the hallway with the car keys clutched in his hand, she saw the man she had originally fallen in love with—decisive, strong, and utterly fearless.
"I trust you," Claire sobbed, nodding rapidly. "Take us."
"Nathan, if you step out that door, we are done!" Serena screamed, her voice shrill with fury. "You are choosing your ex-wife and a child that isn't even yours over me!"
Nathan paused at the front door, turning to look at Serena. The sight of her—standing there, furious not out of concern for his safety, but out of possessive jealousy—made everything crystal clear.
"Then we're done," Nathan said calmly.
Without another word, he opened the door into the howling, white wall of the storm.
The drive was nightmare. The wind howled against the heavy frame of the Range Rover, shaking the vehicle as blinding white snow battered the windshield. The wipers struggled to keep up, beating rhythmically against the glass. Nathan kept both hands glued to the steering wheel, his knuckles white, navigating the winding, unlit back roads of Greenwich purely by memory.
In the back seat, Claire was sitting beside Lily’s car seat, desperately wiping the infant’s forehead with a cool, damp cloth she had brought in a ziplock bag.
"Is she okay?" Nathan asked, glaring through the whiteout as the tires sloshed through deep drifts.
"Her breathing is so fast, Nathan," Claire wept, her voice trembling uncontrollably. "If anything happens to her... I can't... she’s my whole world. I can't lose her."
"You won't lose her," Nathan said, his voice dropping into a deep, steady register that radiated absolute conviction. "Look at me in the mirror, Claire."
Claire lifted her tear-stained eyes to the rearview mirror, meeting his intense, focused gaze.
"I will get you to that hospital," Nathan declared. "I swear it on my life. Hold her, keep her cool. Focus on her. Let me handle the road."
For forty agonizing minutes, Nathan fought the storm. At one point, the SUV slid violently toward a ditch on a steep decline, but Nathan pumped the brakes, corrected the steering with precise, expert control, and pulled them back onto the hidden pavement.
Finally, through the swirling curtain of snow, the red emergency lights of Greenwich Hospital appeared like a beacon.
Nathan slammed the vehicle into park right at the ambulance bay doors, jumping out into the freezing wind. He ripped open the back door, helped Claire unbuckle the car seat, and threw his heavy coat over both Claire and Lily to protect them from the icy wind.
They burst through the automatic sliding doors of the emergency room.
"Help!" Nathan shouted, his voice echoing off the white tiles. "We have an infant with a 104-degree fever!"
Triage nurses immediately rushed forward, pulling Claire and Lily into an exam room. As the medical team swarmed the baby, placing monitors and administering fever-reducers, Claire sank onto a plastic chair, her face buried in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably from sheer exhaustion and adrenaline.
Nathan stood in the doorway, breathing heavily, covered in snow, watching the scene unfold.
A few minutes later, the ER physician turned around with a reassuring smile. "It’s an acute ear infection," the doctor explained softly to Claire. "High fevers are terrifying in babies, but her lungs are clear, and the medication is already lowering her temperature. She’s going to be completely fine."
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Claire let out a long, shuddering gasp of relief, collapsing against the side of the crib as Lily’s cries finally softened into a calm, sleepy whimper.
Nathan leaned against the doorframe, letting out a breath he felt like he had been holding for years.
