Outside, Jackâs car started up. Edward and I scrambled over the bed to the window and watched it slowly move away.
âIâm going,â said Edward.
âYou canât do that! You canât ride your bike in the middle of the night.â
âIâll walk,â said Edward. âI have to be there. For Sabine.â
âItâs three miles,â I said. âAnd itâs cold.â
âIâm going,â said Edward.
He ran out of the room. I stood up and pushed back the covers.
âEdward,â I called softly. âWait for me.â
You annoying kid, I whispered to myself.
Â
We walk through the town, past Potterâs Jewels, Moxieâs Market. We walk under a streetlight, and I look sideways at Edward. His mouth is set, like heâs on a mission.
âEdward?â
âWhat?â
âIt will be all right. Donât worry.â
He looks quickly at me. Then he slows down.
âOkay,â he says.
I can see his breath when he talks.
But after a moment, as if he canât help it, he is hurrying again.
We walk past The Cinema and Jackâs bookstore with the dark windows. There are no cars. There are no people. It is the quietest place I have ever been. It is so quiet I can hear Edward breathing. He begins to hum a song.
âWhat are you humming?â
ââO Canada,ââ he says. âIâm going to sing it first thing to Sabine when sheâs born. And then maybe the French national anthem.â
We pass the last town streetlight, and then it is dark. Too dark to see Edward. But somehow I know he is smiling.
Â
âEdward, Jake?â
The police car drove up beside us. Neither one of us had even noticed the lights of the car.
âWhat are you boys doing out here?â asked Tom. âItâs two oâclock. And freezing.â
Edward kept walking, so Tom cruised along beside us.
âWeâre going to the hospital. Maeveâs having the baby,â I said.
âSabine,â said Edward patiently.
âAh, so itâs a girl!â said Tom.
âIt will be,â said Edward.
âGet in, both of you. Get in!â
Edward hesitated.
Tom got out of the police car and opened the back door.
âYouâll see her sooner, believe me.â
Edward and I climbed into the backseat and we sped off. It was warm in the car.
âCan you sound the siren?â asked Edward.
Tom shook his head. âDonât think so.â
He looked at Edward in his rearview mirror.
âBut I can use the lights!â he said.
And then, as if it were a grand sign, we went to the hospital surrounded by light.
Chapter 10
The hospital lights were dimmed, and patients were asleep. Nurses moved down the hallways on rubber-soled shoes. No one cared that we were there in the middle of the night. The nurses acted as if children arrived every night, very late, to eat chips and drink cold soda out of machines and nap on tan couches.
No one said:
âYouâre too young to be here.â
âVisiting hours are over.â
âWho are you?â
âGo away.â
âThat is not allowed.â
The nurse on duty told us that Maeve wasin the delivery room. The nurseâs name tag said Angela Garden. She had long red curly hair, caught back in a barrette. Wisps of her hair fell down, touching her neck and her cheek.
âDoes your father know youâre here?â Angela asked with a smile. âAnd that you arrived very dramatically in a police car? I saw out the window.â
We grinned at her, and she found us blankets and made us lie down.
âIt could be hours,â she said.
âIt wonât,â said Edward. âIt will be soon.â
âOh?â
Angela looked at me.
I shook my head.
âDonât ask me how he knows. He just knows,â I said.
Angela looked at Edward.
âSome people just know things,â she said thoughtfully.
Suddenly, she leaned