Collins said quietly, standing up from the stool and smoothing his lab coat.

“That’s what saved her.

She’s cleared for discharge tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.”

He patted Grace’s foot through the cotton blanket and walked out into the corridor, leaving the door partly open behind him.

At six o’clock, the floor’s triage nurse, Paula Jenkins, pushed a small stainless steel cart into the room with two plastic cups of chocolate pudding and two wooden spoons.

“Complimentary dessert for the bravest girl on the third floor,” Paula said, setting the tray on the bedside table with a warm smile before heading back to the nurses’ station.