Chapter 1
The wind on the rooftop helipad at State General Hospital was so strong, it was hard to stay on your feet.
The stretcher was already at the helicopter door. The eight-year-old girl's left leg was wrapped in a thick ice pack. The nurse kept glancing at her watch, her voice was tense.
"Captain White, we're eighteen minutes overdue. If we don't take off now, the girl might lose her leg," the nurse urged.
My husband, Adam White, sat in the pilot's seat, his hand resting on the control stick, unmoving.
He stared out the front window toward the edge of the helipad.
There stood a woman in a pink nurse's uniform, head down, waiting for the delivery guy to hand her a cup of bubble tea.
Adam said, "Just two more minutes."
The nurse grew anxious. "Claire Manning isn't even on the schedule today. She's not allowed on board."
Adam ripped off his headset and slammed it onto the instrument panel.
"Who's the captain here, me or you?" he snapped.
In my last life, at this exact moment, I grabbed the radio and told the tower Adam had a cramp in his wrist, so I took over the controls and lifted off.
The helicopter landed on time at State General Hospital, and the girl's leg was saved.
Claire got suspended for three months after the hospital filed a report about her boarding without permission and ordering bubble tea on the helipad.
From that day on, Adam never spoke kindly to me again.
The night I went into labor, Adam locked me in the storage room with no windows. As I pleaded with him to call an ambulance, he gave a cold laugh.
Adam said, "You made her wait a few minutes. You ruined her future, so now you get to know what waiting feels like."
When the baby was born, she didn't cry. I didn't even make it to dawn.
When I opened my eyes again, the tower's urgent voice came through my headset.
……
"Blue Hawk Seven, are you ready for takeoff?"
I looked at Adam, then over at the freshly sealed bubble tea sitting by the edge of the helipad.
I turned off my radio.
"Do as the captain says," I said.
Adam glanced at me, and his anger eased a bit.
"Now that's more like it. Claire gets cold easily. What's wrong with her having something warm to drink?" he said.
The girl's mother rushed forward, clutching the helicopter door, her voice cracking with desperation.
"Please, the doctor said if we wait any longer, it'll be too late. She's just eight years old," the mother begged.
Adam's brow furrowed. "Step back, please. You're putting the flight at risk."
Claire rushed over clutching her bubble tea, with a pink sticker still on the cup.
Her first move wasn't to check on the girl on the stretcher. She stuck a straw in her drink and took a big sip.
"Adam, my hands are numb from the cold. Why is the door still open?" Claire said, complaining.
The nurse, furious, slammed the medical chart onto the stretcher.
"You're complaining about being cold? That girl's leg has been stuck in an ice pack for twenty minutes. You're risking her entire future," the nurse snapped.
Claire blinked, giving Adam a pitiful look.
"It's not like I did it on purpose. And isn't Summer Hughes the co-pilot? She's amazing. Can't she get us there faster?" Claire whined.
Adam shot me a look.
"You hear that? Keep your eyes on the flight path and quit sulking," he said.
I pulled my hand back from the instrument panel.
"I'm not taking the blame for your delay," I said.