Prologue
"Dear God, I'm going to die."
Though she'd been thinking the words for hours, hearing them said aloud in her own hoarse, desperate voice made Josie Belmont cringe. The movement sent another wave of agony cascading through her body. Thunder shook her bed, reminding Josie of the storm raging outside--the storm that prevented any hope of rescue, leaving Josie on her own.
Her husband hovered somewhere at the edges of her consciousness, but he could do nothing more than hold her hand and sponge her sweating brow. During childbirth, a woman learned the true meaning of solitude. The world became a struggle between one's self and one's body.
Despite her exhaustion, Josie gathered a last reserve of strength and pushed one final time. The child slipped from her body into the waiting hands of her husband. Joy flooded Josie, followed by profound relief. The ordeal had ended. She wanted nothing more than to open her eyes and view the life she'd worked so desperately to bring into the world, but she was just too tired. She became aware of the stillness around her. Why hadn't she heard the squall of her child, or the announcement of the baby's sex?
The question receded along with the pain and Josie's consciousness. Just before she slipped into what she thought would be a refreshing sleep, Josie heard her husband speak at last. Instead of the joy and wonder she'd expected, he sounded hoarse and desperate, just as she had been only moments before.
?There's so much blood. I don't know what to do. It won't stop. Josie, hang on, please. I have to--? Smack. The sharp crack of flesh against flesh. "Breathe, damn you. Breathe." Silence once more.
Panic filled Josie. Something was wrong with the baby. She needed to open her eyes--to see, to help. Why couldn't she seem to make her body obey her mind's command?
A harsh, guttural cry interrupted her musings. "No! Josie, don't leave me! Not my wife and my baby. Dear God, I've lost them both."
Thunder crashed once again, as though God had heard his desperate prayer and answered.
The panic dissipated as love filled her. Josie wanted to reach out and touch her husband, to tell him she'd never leave him. Never. But the peaceful darkness awaited, and she had no choice but to slip into it.
In that darkness Josie had no awareness of herself, of the world, or anything beyond.
Perfect solitude.
"
)
