Chapter 69

• A series of giggles resonated round the ward, drawing attention to the chain of family members occupying the room. In the ward allocated to Emerald's mother after the birth of baby Emmett, were Emerald, Jordan, Maggie, Luca and said baby, who was sleeping peacefully in his cot.
• Luca was perched on the head of the bed, sitting with Maggie's head laying on his thighs as he combed his fingers through her hair, watching as she continued to chatter animatedly, even with the vines of sleep slowly entrapping her.
• Emerald sat at the foot of the bed, her mother's slightly swollen feet lying on her own thighs. Maggie's feet had been begging endlessly for a massage, calling out to Emerald, so she had taken it upon herself to relieve her mother of her aching feet.