Chapter 13 - Noah
The emergency room moved around Emily in flashes.
Blood pressure cuff.
IV.
Fetal monitor.
Doctors speaking too quickly.
Daniel stood near her head until a nurse pushed him back.
“The baby’s heart rate is dropping.”
Emily looked at him.
“I’m scared.”
He took her hand.
“I know.”
“No.” She squeezed hard. “Listen to me. If something happens—”
“Nothing is happening.”
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“If you ever let your mother near him, I will never forgive you.”
His eyes filled.
“She will never touch him.”
The doctor made the call.
Emergency C-section.
Forty minutes later, a baby cried under bright surgical lights.
Emily sobbed before she saw him.
Daniel did too.
“Your son is here,” the doctor said.
Noah Carter weighed six pounds, eight ounces.
He had dark hair, a furious cry, and both hands curled into fists as though he had arrived ready to argue with the world.
Emily laughed through tears.
For the first time in months, something inside her unclenched.
Then a nurse entered recovery with a strange expression.
“Mr. Carter, there’s an issue with the visitor registry.”
Daniel stood immediately.
“What issue?”
“Someone tried to register as the baby’s grandmother using an authorization code.”
Emily’s blood went cold.
“Margaret?”
“No. She’s wearing an ankle monitor and police confirmed she’s home.”
Daniel frowned. “Then who?”
The nurse handed him a printout.
The authorization code belonged to his account.
Daniel stared.
“I didn’t give anyone this.”
Rachel arrived twenty minutes later.
The hospital locked Noah’s record.
Security reviewed cameras.
A woman had entered wearing scrubs and a badge that did not belong to her.
She left before anyone stopped her.
Daniel did not recognize her.
Emily did.
Her name was Carol Jensen.
May you like
Margaret’s oldest friend.
And Carol had once worked as a maternity nurse.
