Chapter 3

Silvia sprinted the short distance from the kitchen, where she had been clearing up after their lunch whilst chatting with Don Lorenzo, to their living room where Pepa had gone to sit down to rest for a while.

Pepa had been experiencing a fleeting pain in her back and stomach for a couple of days, which had left her feeling tired and out of sorts. Silvia had gently, and then more forcefully, nagged her about it and so they had called their Obstetrician, who had put it down to Pepa's body beginning the first preparations for the birth of their child, who was due in around a month's time. Pepa, who had still appeared weary but also now cheerfully vindicated, had gleefully crowed, "You are such a worrier, Pelirroja. No doubt in my mind, you'll make our son or daughter a great Madre."

Now Silvia rounded the end of the couch and saw Pepa lying on her left-hand side on the floor, squashed into the gap between the sofa and the coffee table. Her dark hair was covering her face like a veil, but Silvia could still hear her groans. Her legs were shifting spasmodically, twisting and squirming in pain and her right hand was splayed out, cradling her belly, but Silvia's eyes were inexorably drawn downwards, transfixed by the pool of blood that was rapidly forming around Pepa's lower body. She was haemorrhaging, badly.

As she yelled to Don Lorenzo to call an ambulance she had grabbed the coffee table, throwing it out of her way and sank to her knees next to Pepa's writhing body. In that moment all of Silvia's medical training was lost, she felt as helpless as a child would. Her wife was in horrifying pain, she knew something was terribly wrong, and she could do nothing about it.

Carefully she lifted Pepa's body, cradling her shoulders, holding her close and trying to make her more comfortable. As she did so, she tried to calm her agitated wife, gently brushing her hair away from her beautiful face, kissing her on the forehead and then meeting her frightened gaze with her own steady one. Constantly reassuring her that it was going to be all right, everything was going to be fine, but all the time she was aware of Don Lorenzo in the background rapidly firing directions at the ambulance service and yelling at them to hurry.

Don Lorenzo appeared suddenly, dropping swiftly to his knees he placed himself carefully behind, and slightly to Pepa's side, taking over from Silvia in supporting Pepa's rapidly weakening body. Silvia briefly locked eyes with him over the top of Pepa's head seeking her father's reassurance that everything would be OK, but his eyes were tense with worry and she could see the glint of tears in them. Silvia ducked her head, hiding her reaction from Pepa, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes and gnawing on her lip to regain control, Pepa needed her to be strong now.

As she knelt on the floor next to Pepa, the blood continued to pool steadily around them. She had held Pepa's hand tightly, trying to keep her attention, to anchor her to life, to Silvia. "Mi Amor, look at me, stay with me, mi Corazón, mi Querida," she had pleaded.

Her beautiful, courageous wife, who had never shown a moment's fear when facing down an angry knife-wielding suspect, or when running through a hail of bullets to secure a better shooting position, looked absolutely terrified.

Tears of pain and worry ran down Pepa's cheeks. "Lo siento… lo siento Silvia," she whispered, trying hard to force the words out to be able to speak. "If you have to make a choice querida, please save our baby", she implored.

Silvia could only shake her head in despair, to continue to live her life without Pepa was not a future she could contemplate. "Please don't ask me to make that promise, eres mi media naranja". She kissed the back of Pepa's hand, pressing her lips hard against her lover's skin trying to impress on her, her love.

"Todo mi amor, para siempre", Pepa gasped out, then her face contorted into a silent scream as another wave of agony washed over her. Silvia could only watch helplessly as Pepa's back arched off the floor in reaction to the pain. Her hand was being crushed by Pepa's but she couldn't even feel it, she was instead transfixed, watching petrified as even more blood pooled beneath Pepa's body, as her other hand's convulsive movements sprayed dark scarlet droplets across their furniture. 'How could there be so much blood?' she worried uneasily.

Then, whether through blood loss or the agony of the injury, Silvia knew not, her wife's eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she mercifully passed out, collapsing back into Don Lorenzo's arms.