Chương 10
“I said I’ll tell her.”
Daniel ended the call.
He stood in the hallway for several seconds afterward.
Until that moment, he had believed Ryan’s worst act was leaving.
Now he understood there had been a second decision.
Ryan had been told Claire was in emergency surgery, and some part of him had still needed proof.
Daniel returned to the room.
Claire was awake.
“You make a terrible spy,” she murmured.
He stopped.
“What?”
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you know something and wish you didn’t.”
Daniel pulled the chair closer.
“You need to sleep.”
“What did he say?”
“Claire.”
Her eyes sharpened despite the medication.
“What did Ryan say?”
Daniel looked at her for a long moment.
“He went home because he didn’t believe me.”
She did not move.
“When you told him I was in surgery?”
“Yes.”
Daniel wished he could take the words back.
Claire stared at the ceiling.
“He thought I was lying.”
“He said he panicked.”
“Did he see the blood?”
Daniel’s silence answered.
Claire turned her face away.
This time she did not cry.
That frightened Daniel more than tears would have.
At six seventeen the next morning, Madeline’s neonatologist called Claire’s room.
Her breathing had improved overnight.
They were reducing her respiratory support.
Claire pressed the phone to her ear with both hands.
“Can I see her?”
“As soon as your nurse clears you.”
“And hold her?”
There was a pause.
“If she tolerates the change in support, I think we can try.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Thank you.”
After the call, Daniel went downstairs to find coffee.
Ryan was gone.
So was Evelyn.
For the first time since the ambulance arrived, nobody was waiting outside to demand anything from Claire.
By eight, she was back in the NICU.
Beth helped position Madeline carefully against Claire’s chest.
The baby weighed just over six pounds and seemed to disappear beneath the hospital blanket.
Claire felt the warmth of her cheek against her skin.
Madeline made a tiny sound.
Claire froze.
“Is that okay?”
Beth smiled.
“That’s very okay.”
Claire looked down.
“Hi.”
Madeline’s eyelids fluttered.
Claire touched the dark hair near her temple.
Daniel stood several feet away with his hands in his pockets.
He had taken photographs only after Claire asked him.
She looked at him.
“Send me that one.”
“The one where you look exhausted?”
“I am exhausted.”
“I can fix the lighting.”
“Do not edit my first picture with my daughter.”
“Your first picture with your daughter looks like you fought a bear.”
Claire looked down at Madeline.
“I kind of did.”
Daniel’s smile faded.
Claire noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Danny.”
He looked toward the NICU window.
“I have to make a couple calls later.”
“What calls?”
“Work.”
The answer was technically true.
His commanding officer had asked him to report his status by noon.
But there was another call Daniel had been avoiding.
Their father’s closest friend, Colonel Samuel Mercer, had spent decades treating Claire like a second daughter after her father died.
Daniel knew that once Sam learned what happened, concern would not remain private for long.
Claire studied her brother.
“You’re hiding something.”
“I’m sleep-deprived.”
“That too.”
Madeline shifted against her chest.
Claire immediately looked down.
The movement erased every other thought.
For the next hour, she allowed the world to become no larger than the tiny hand resting beneath her collarbone.
She did not yet know that Ryan had made another call before leaving the hospital.
She did not know he had spoken to an attorney.
She did not know Evelyn had gone home and started deleting messages from the family group chat.
And she did not know Daniel, sitting three feet away with a paper cup cooling between his hands, had already decided that before Claire returned to that house, he was going to find out exactly what kind of life she had been living inside it.
Daniel waited until Claire was asleep before he left the NICU floor and called Colonel Samuel Mercer from a quiet stairwell.
Sam answered on the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
“Sorry.”
“You never call me before nine unless somebody’s dead or you need a truck.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Nobody’s dead.”
The silence on the line sharpened.
“What happened?”
“Claire had an emergency C-section last night.”
Another pause.
“How bad?”
“Placental abruption.”
Sam swore softly.
“The baby?”
“Alive.”
“And Claire?”
“Alive.”
Sam exhaled.
“Then why do you sound like you’re calling from a battlefield?”
Daniel leaned against the concrete wall.
“Ryan left her at home while she was in labor.”
Sam said nothing.
“He went to his mother’s birthday dinner.”
Still nothing.
“She begged him to take her to the hospital.”
When Sam finally spoke, his voice had gone flat.
“Did he know she was in danger?”
“He knew her blood pressure had been unstable.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“He knew enough.”
Daniel heard movement on the other end, then a door closing.
“Where is Ryan now?”
“Not here.”
“That was probably wise.”
“Sam.”
“I said wise, not safe.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t need you doing anything.”
“Then why did you call me?”
That stopped him.
Daniel looked through the narrow stairwell window at the hospital parking deck.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I think Claire’s been minimizing things.”
“What things?”
“Her marriage.”
Sam was quiet for a moment.
“Has Ryan hit her?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
Daniel hated saying it.
“But I’ve never seen anything that suggests he has.”
“Control?”
“Maybe.”
“Money?”
“I don’t know.”
“Isolation?”
Daniel thought of how often Claire had canceled visits over the last two years.
Ryan had a work dinner.
Ryan’s mother needed help.
The house was too messy.
She was tired.
Maybe next month.
“I don’t know.”
Sam sighed.
“Then don’t invent a crime because you’re angry.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Daniel looked down at his boots.
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Anger’s honest.”
Sam’s voice softened.
May you like
“Just don’t confuse it with evidence.”
Daniel let that sit.
