Chapter 34

• I held her hand as her cries tore through my heart and split open my soul. Fear rippled through me at the thought of losing my Maria now. I wouldn’t survive it. Not when she was so deeply ingrained inside my soul, rooted underneath my beating heart, and was there to stay.
• Maria gasped out loud, and my eyes shot open. She tried to struggle into a sitting position, her hands flying to her stomach as she screamed.
• “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with her?” I asked urgently to anyone in the room. My arms curled around Maria as I tried to soothe her in any way I could. “Do something,” I finally pleaded to the midwife.