Chapter 1 - THE HAND THAT MOVED
Daniel Carter had learned to measure hope in millimeters.
A change in Emily’s breathing.
A twitch beneath one eyelid.
A slight increase in her heart rate when he played the song from their wedding.
Eight months of searching for meaning inside movements doctors repeatedly explained as reflexes had taught him not to celebrate too quickly.
Still, every morning he entered Room 312 at St. Mary’s Medical Center and said the same thing.
“Morning, Em.”
Emily never answered.
She lay beneath white hospital sheets, brunette hair carefully brushed by nurses, lavender gown stretched gently over the enormous curve of her eight-month-pregnant belly.
The pregnancy itself had become a medical miracle.
Emily had been eleven weeks pregnant when the accident put her into a coma.
Daniel had found out about the baby from a doctor while standing beside Emily’s unconscious body.
Now the child inside her kicked.
Grew.
Responded to sound.
While his mother remained unreachable.
Daniel was sitting beside the bed that Tuesday afternoon when someone slipped into the room behind him.
He didn’t notice at first.
He was holding Emily’s hand.
“Your son kicked me again this morning,” he whispered.
The door clicked softly.
Daniel turned.
A little blonde girl stood near the wall.
Seven, maybe.
Yellow floral dress.
Mud on her shoes.
A glass jar in both hands.
Daniel frowned.
“Sweetheart, are you lost?”
The girl shook her head.
“No.”
“This is a patient room.”
“I know.”
She walked toward Emily.
Daniel stood.
“Where are your parents?”
The girl ignored him.
She unscrewed the jar.
A dark smell filled the room.
Wet soil.
Daniel stared.
“What is that?”
The child put her hand into the jar.
Daniel moved toward her.
“Hey—”
She lifted a handful of damp earth.
Then pressed it directly onto Emily’s pregnant belly.
Daniel grabbed her wrist.
“STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
The jar nearly fell.
The girl didn’t scream.
She didn’t even look frightened.
She stared at Emily.
“I’m waking her up.”
Daniel almost laughed from shock.
Then anger replaced it.
“She’s been asleep for eight months!”
His voice broke on the final word.
The little girl’s confidence flickered.
But she did not remove her muddy hand.
Daniel pulled the jar away.
“WHO GAVE YOU THIS?”
The girl looked at him.
Her blue eyes suddenly filled with tears.
“The earth remembers her.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
She said nothing.
Then the fetal monitor changed.
A rapid burst of sound filled the room.
Daniel turned instantly.
The baby’s heart rate had accelerated.
“Emily?”
He released the girl.
He grabbed his wife’s hand.
“Emily! Can you hear me?”
The girl put her palm back against the soil on Emily’s belly.
Daniel almost stopped her again.
Then footsteps pounded outside.
Dr. Harris rushed in.
He saw the mud.
The child.
Daniel.
“What the hell is happening?”
He lunged toward the bed.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
The little girl bent close to Emily.
Tears ran down her cheeks now.
She whispered:
“Your baby is waiting.”
Daniel felt something inside his hand.
Small.
Impossible.
He looked down.
Emily’s index finger moved.
Not much.
Barely half an inch.
But Daniel saw it.
Felt it.
He screamed.
“EMILY!”
Dr. Harris froze.
The little girl did too.
Emily did not open her eyes.
She did not speak.
May you like
But inside Daniel’s hand—
her finger moved again.
