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‘Thank God!’ Adam cried.

Charlie stepped forward. ‘This drain, will it stay in permanently?’

‘For the time being, yes.’

‘What happens if it does get infected?’

Dr Mayhew paused. ‘We must hope that it doesn’t, and we’ll do everything to ensure that it doesn’t.’

‘But what happens if it does?’ Charlie persisted.

‘An infection in Sarah’s bloodstream would travel to the foetus and result in the rupture of the membranes, causing a pre-term delivery.’

Charlie’s face was white. ‘Jesus Christ, it’s not right. None of this is right.’

‘Ben’s alive, Charlie. That’s all that matters now,’ Adam said.

‘Charlie’s just in shock,’ Rob said gently. ‘It’s a very difficult situation, Adam.’

‘No, it’s not. It’s perfectly straightforward,’ Adam said, his voice rising. ‘Ben is alive and that’s our only focus.’

Dr Mayhew muttered that he had to check on Sarah and exited the room, leaving them to argue.

Charlie stood facing Adam. ‘Sarah should die in peace. She’s not an incubator, she’s my daughter and she’s dead. We need to let her go and bury her with dignity. This is not natural, Adam.’

‘You don’t understand, Charlie. This is Sarah’s doing. She’s fighting to keep the baby alive, and we have to help her.’

‘No, she isn’t, Adam. She’s dead, son. The machines are keeping her body alive, not Sarah. She’s full of tubes and drips and now she has a drain in her skull. Please, Adam, we need to let her go. No baby can survive in a dead mother’s body for months.’

Adam stepped forward aggressively and shoved a finger into Charlie’s face. ‘While my son has a heartbeat, we will be keeping Sarah alive.’

Rob came and stood between them, making sure Adam didn’t get any closer to Charlie.

‘But she’s not alive! I keep telling you – she’s dead!’ Charlie shouted. ‘I was there at that scan you missed. I saw that little boy. I’d do anything to save him, Adam, but he can’t survive in a dead mother’s body. Cop yourself on and see the reality here.’

Adam looked as if he’d been slapped. ‘He might, Charlie … he might survive. You aren’t God. You can’t tell me for certain that he won’t. Ben is the priority here, and nothing and no one else matters.Iwill decide what happens. Me. That’s my wife in there and my son, and I’ll do anything to save him.’

The two men stared at each other, breathing heavily.

‘Hey now,’ Rob said quietly. ‘Let’s just take a step back.’ He put his arm around Adam and physically moved him away. ‘How about we go get a coffee?’ he said, then steered his brother out of the room, casting a worried glance at Charlie.

The door closed, and Charlie turned to Mia, who was sitting quietly in the corner.

‘Have you nothing to say? You normally have plenty to say about everything. You think it’s OK, do you, your sister being used to keep alive a foetus that isn’t going to make it? Her body is going to start deteriorating. It’s inhumane. It’s wrong, Mia. It’s wrong.’

Mia felt nauseous at the thought of her sister’s body breaking down. She couldn’t bear it. ‘I understand where you’re coming from, Dad, but I can see Adam’s point, too. While there is a chance of saving the baby, however tiny, he has to try. He’d have to live with the guilt afterwards if he didn’t. Sarah wanted this baby more than anything. She was so happy to be pregnant. I really think she’d want us to try.’

‘But the child won’t survive. It’ll be for nothing.’

Mia looked at her father, and knew he was at the end of his tether. This was killing him. ‘Medicine has come a long way. Who knows what’ll happen? Look, Dad, the whole situation is horrific. None of us can get our heads around it. I don’t know what to say to people. My principal rang me and asked how Sarah was and I didn’t have the words. So, I just said she’s still non-responsive, but I’m not sure how long I can keep that up. When people find out, they’ll have an opinion and I don’t want to hear it. No one knows what it’s like or what they’d do until they’re in the situation. If you’d asked me a month ago if I’d think it was right to keep my dead sister alive as an incubator, I would have said no. But here we are, and the baby still has a heartbeat, so …’

Charlie sat down and rubbed his eyes. ‘What a mess. What a total and utter mess. I can’t mourn her, and I can’t not mourn her. I think limbo might be worse than Hell.’

Mia reached over and squeezed his hand. ‘I know what you mean.’

‘How’s Izzy?’

‘She’s holding up well, but I think Adam being in the hospital all the time is upsetting her too. She’s so close to Sarah, and misses her so much, that she needs her dad now. But in fairness to Adam, he needs to be here for Sarah and the baby. I’m finding it impossible to explain it to Izzy. There is no explanation that a seven-year-old could possibly understand.’