arley remembered him mentioning it once, casually, over dinner. Clean lines,

ing her wedding dress with the hem torn and stained, and fel

re, had attempted to guide her to a bathroom. Karley had refused. The dress

e of nature, her own couture gown blood-spattered, her ey

e distance in six str

but she caught herself on the bench's ar

ack of it echoing off the walls that her son had specifi

er own cheek, rocking back on her heels but not falling.

ed toward Karley's face, the on her

sses and your desperate little smile." Spittle flew from her lips. "My daughter i

bay doors

his face gray with exhaustion. He looked from Brenda to Karley to Si

f Devora

her mother. How is sh

ng, but she's lost a significant amount of blood. The lacerations were deep-o

n?" Karley hea

s, the blood, the blankness of her expression

ped. "She's managed it her whole life

firm. "Her blood isn't clotting properly. We've transfuse

ked at each of

ke he was delivering a verdict. "We don't stock it. No hospital does. It's

rner of the corridor, from the shadow

tuxedo was ruined, jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal forearm

s she have?"

s. "Without transfusio

, and his gaze swept the corridor, past his mother, past Siobh

und K

s body went still, the way his eyes widened slightly,

a word in a foreign language. "Your p

ill reeling from the slap and the abandonment and the image o

ember? When we filled out the forms, you jok

h strides that ate the polished floor. He reached her and dropped to his knees, gr

spered. "You're the same

at the top of his head, at the blood matting his hair

n't-what are

votion she'd seen at the altar. With hope. Raw, calculating, desperate hope. "A transfusion.

broken glass. "You checked your fiancée's medical r

tightened on Karley's, sque

ily I have, the only person who-" His voice broke. "Please. I'm

omething worse-supplication. She clutched at Karley's

anything. I'll accept you. I'll love you

urity guards, a janitor who had paused with his mop bucket. She felt thei

o, who had abandoned her at the first sign of crisis, who wa

d spoken. In sickness and in

nd bleeding, the woman her hu

elf say. "I'll do it.

athering her in an embrace that crushed the air from her lu

k you, thank you, you're saving

legs wouldn't hold her. As they turned toward the transfusion uni

ne of profound, tearful gratitude. He gripped

God for my wife. Thank God she was here." He turned back to Kar

ed a corner, and sh

ood flow through a tube into a bag that would save her husb