{"id":31215,"date":"2025-11-02T14:12:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/?p=31215"},"modified":"2025-11-02T14:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:12:06","slug":"31215","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/?p=31215","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The kids would not go to the playroom with volunteers. They orbited Ethan like satellites that had found a stable pull. He learned their names from wristbands a nurse had printed:\u00a0<strong>Ava Cole<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Jalen Cole<\/strong>\u2014and the sight of that last name nearly undid him. Naomi had written it without his permission and without his help; the audacity of hope in that choice made something hot burn behind his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Hours later, when Naomi woke, her first word was\u00a0<em>kids<\/em>. Her second was\u00a0<em>where<\/em>. She took in the fluorescent ceiling, the IV line, the unfamiliar blanket, and tried to sit up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re safe,\u201d Ethan said from the chair by the bed, his voice hoarse from saying nothing for a long time. \u201cThey\u2019re in the play nook. I stayed with them. They\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She turned toward the voice, squinted, and then recognition hit like a door swinging too fast. \u201cEthan?\u201d The name left her mouth like a small astonishment and a complicated regret at once. She looked away, swallowing shame as if it were a pill she\u2019d been prescribed. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=17248\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26790\" src=\"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/comntinue-reading.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"905\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/comntinue-reading.jpeg 905w, https:\/\/newsx48.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/comntinue-reading-300x75.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/newsx48.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/comntinue-reading-768x191.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 905px) 100vw, 905px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The kids would not go to the playroom with volunteers. They orbited Ethan like satellites that had found a stable pull. He learned their names from wristbands a nurse had printed:\u00a0Ava Cole\u00a0and\u00a0Jalen Cole\u2014and the sight of that last name nearly undid him. Naomi had written it without his permission and without his help; the audacity&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/?p=31215\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31218,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31215\/revisions\/31218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsx48.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}