“I’m right here, June bug,” Ethan whispered into her baby hair.

“I’m staying right here with you.”

I stood up slowly from the armchair, my hips aching after sitting still in the cold room for so long.

A heavy wave of physical exhaustion swept over me, making my eyelids thick and heavy after sixteen straight hours of fever checks and hospital noise.

“Her next antibiotic dose is two point five milliliters at ten o’clock,” I said, using the exact dosage from Dr.

Owens’ chart.