The heart monitor was a frantic companion to the silence of the room.
Arthur had pulled a monitor wire, triggering a sharp, insistent beeping. Sarah rushed in, pressing him back into the mattress.
"Don’t move! You’ll stop your heart!"
The alarms intensified, then slowly died down. Arthur lay still, his breath shallow.
""Her heart stopped right here," he said, his voice a ghost of a sound. "I heard it. The most beautiful sound in the world just... stopped. And now I have to listen to mine keep going.""
Sarah took his hand, her thumb tracing the lines of his palm. "Your heart is beating because she gave you enough love to last a lifetime, Arthur. It's not beating alone."