Love beyond the mask (Whitney) novel Chapter 1159

Of course, that… that was still the thing weighing most on her heart.

She lowered her voice, trying to sound steady as she asked, “Sammy, you and Danny have been watching over the baby all this time. How’s she doing these days?”

Sammy’s voice finally cracked a little. “Mom, you finally asked about our little sister. After you and Dad had the accident, I was too scared to even bring her up. She’s not okay. There’s been no progress at all!”

“Didn’t you set up a treatment plan for her before you left for Boston? Acupuncture and all that? No one else here dares try it. It’s gotta be you, Mom. She needs you.”

“I know.” Whitney felt a pang deep in her chest.

She still felt a strange distance from the child who’d come into her life so suddenly, but a life is a life. She’d promised Ludwik, and she wasn’t about to turn her back now. She hadn’t forgotten—not for a second. The only reason she hadn’t been there was because she’d been running herself ragged trying to save her mom and dad.

Her lashes fluttered as she pushed herself up from the chair and started for the door, exhaustion weighing her down. “Sammy, I’m free now. I’ll come see the baby. Tell Danny not to worry, okay?”

“Okay, Mom! We know you’re tired, but every second counts for her!”

Sammy’s voice was gentle but full of worry, trying to comfort her.

He’s right. She couldn’t delay any longer. “Let the NICU staff know to prep the tools for the treatment. I’m going to have to try something special, even if it’s a bit risky.”

She hung up and hurried back to her mom’s hospital room, making sure the nurse knew what to watch for. Then she ducked next door to check on her father in Hudson Sheldon’s surgical ward.

Finally, she made her way to the neonatal ICU.

There was just one critical care room on the third floor, and inside was the baby she and Ludwik had agreed to care for—their “daughter.”

Whitney squeezed her fingertips together, steeling herself, and forced on a smile as she entered. “Danny, Sammy,” she called softly.

She looked at the baby, so pitiful, her cries like a battle on the edge of life and death.

All the complicated, unfamiliar feelings—and her anger at Florence—began to fade.

What had this child done wrong? Her only “crime” was not getting to choose whose body she was born into.

Florence was gone now, paying for her crimes. She’d never come back to haunt Whitney again.

And with Florence gone, the baby’s arrival in this world was slowly being washed clean in Whitney’s heart.

She took a deep breath and, for the first time, reached her hand—careful and deliberate—into the incubator.