Listed: Volume VI by Noelle Adams Page A

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punch—this time to the side of his jaw, but he barely felt the pain.
    The
pain in his chest was much, much worse.
    “Paul,
no! No, no!” Emily screamed hoarsely, her voice loud and piercing in his ear as
he carried her.
    He
managed to lower her into the tub without hurting her, although she was writhing
and flailing so frantically that the bathroom floor was soon covered with
water. The cool water seemed to soothe her a little, and her screaming soon
subdued to mumbled pleas.
    Paul
knelt down beside the tub, his trousers and t-shirt soaked through with water.
Every part of his body ached, but none as painfully as his chest. He took a
clean washcloth, dampened it with cold water and wiped at Emily’s face as she
squirmed and choked out incoherent words.
    Emily
tossed her head a few times, and then her wide eyes landed on Paul. For just a
moment, she appeared to see him. “Paul, help!”
    Paul
closed his eyes briefly, swallowing hard over the tightness in his throat that
just wouldn’t go away. “I’m trying. I promise I’m trying.”
    Amy
took Emily’s temperature again. After checking it, she left the bathroom
without explanation.
    Paul
was too distracted to even wonder what the nurse was doing.
    “Please
help!” Emily gasped again, arching up in the tub. “Paul, please!”
    He
wiped at her face with the cool cloth. “I don’t know what else to do, baby,” he
choked, his throat almost too tight to even speak.
    For
a moment, he was swallowed up by the helplessness. His wife was dying. She was
dying in front of his eyes, and there was nothing in the world he could do to
stop it.
    Amy
returned to the bathroom then with a bucket of ice in her hands. Paul watched
blankly as the woman dumped it into the tub.
    Evidently
reading his look correctly, Amy explained, “We need to bring her fever down.”
    “I
thought ice baths weren’t good for fevers.”
    “In
general, they aren’t, but her fever can’t stay this high for long or it might…damage
her brain. We need to bring it down quickly.”
    Paul
froze.
    Amy’s
expression was still composed, but there was a brief flash of pity in her eyes.
“Keep cooling her down. I’ll get more ice.”
    Paul
fought through the bleak despair until he could move again. He swished the ice
around in the bathwater and then cooled down the washcloth again with the
freezing water.
    The
drop in temperature seemed to have an effect. Emily stopped writhing and let
out a long sigh. “Paul,” she breathed.
    With
a painful gulp, Paul kept cooling her down. When Amy came in with more ice, he
said, “It seems to be helping.”
    Amy
checked Emily's temperature again and looked relieved at the result. They kept
her in the bath until she started to shiver, and then Paul gathered her small,
wet body up into his arms again. She seemed to weigh nothing at all, which was
terrifying and heartbreaking. It felt like she was slipping out of his grip for
good.
    When
they dried her off and got her into bed, she drifted off into an exhausted
sleep. Paul’s chest could finally unclench, at least for the moment.
    “Why
don’t you get some sleep?” Amy suggested. “You’ve been awake for days.”
    Paul
shook his head. “I’m not going to leave her, but you need to rest too. I can
sit with her while you get some sleep.”
    Amy
started to object, but Paul insisted, “I mean it. I’m not expecting you to work
around the clock.” He should have hired another nurse to relieve Amy, but he
wasn’t willing to risk his precious wife with a stranger. Not at this point. A
doctor stopped by twice a day, and they kept in regular contact with Dr.
Franklin. He’d had another treatment he wanted to try, so the local doctor
administered that yesterday and then again this morning.
    The
new treatment obviously wasn’t working any better than the other ones had.
    “All
right,” Amy relented. “If you’ll take a shower, change clothes, and get
something to eat first, I’ll rest for a couple of