Chapter 7 - The Grandparents Arrive
The morning sun broke through the storm clouds just as a sleek black town car pulled up to the emergency room doors. Arthur and Margaret Sterling practically ran inside. They were dressed in expensive clothes that looked entirely out of place in the small-town waiting room, but their faces bore the universal, frantic look of terrified parents.
"Where is she? Where is Eleanor?" Margaret demanded, tears streaming down her face.
Mrs. Gable guided them to the ICU. When Margaret saw her daughter—pale, fragile, surrounded by tubes and machines—she collapsed into her husband's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"We didn't know," Arthur choked out. "We thought she didn't want us. We stopped looking."
"You have more family to meet," Nurse Sarah said softly. She led them down the hall to the pediatric ward.
Lily was sitting cross-legged on a bed, carefully feeding a bottle to baby Leo, while baby Mia slept soundly in a bassinet next to her. The seven-year-old looked up, her large, serious eyes locking onto the wealthy strangers.
"Lily," Nurse Sarah said gently. "These are your grandparents."
Margaret fell to her knees beside the bed. She didn't care about the dirt still smudged on Lily's hospital gown or the smell of iodine. She reached out, her hands trembling, and gently touched the bandages on Lily's blistered hands.
"You saved them," Margaret wept, pressing her forehead against the edge of the mattress. "You saved our family."
May you like
Lily looked at the crying woman, then down at the baby in her arms. "I just pushed the wheelbarrow. Mommy is the one who fought the monster."
For the first time in five years, Eleanor's family was under one roof. But the matriarch of the family was still trapped in the dark.
