Chương 13
Richard spoke from outside the room.
“I can leave.”
Claire studied him.
“What do you want?”
Richard looked at the babies.
His face changed.
For a second, something almost tender appeared there.
Then guilt covered it.
“To apologize.”
Claire said nothing.
Richard swallowed.
“And to tell Ethan something.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Richard looked toward the hallway behind him.
“Your mother is downstairs telling security that Claire is unstable from medication and that you asked her to come.”
Ethan’s face went hard.
Richard raised one hand.
“I told them that wasn’t true.”
Claire looked at Rachel.
Rachel nodded.
“Security has already been informed.”
Ethan stood carefully with Nora.
Richard’s gaze moved to the baby.
His entire expression softened.
“She’s beautiful.”
Claire watched him.
“You said I could wait a few hours.”
The softness vanished.
Richard looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
“If I had listened to you, I could have had a seizure.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
Claire almost told him not to use those words either.
Instead she waited.
Richard lifted his eyes.
“I was wrong because I wanted the afternoon to stay easy.”
Claire stared at him.
He continued.
“Your pain was inconvenient, and I treated that inconvenience like evidence that it wasn’t serious.”
His voice shook slightly.
“I don’t have a defense.”
Ethan looked at his father.
Claire could see the resemblance more clearly than ever.
Not in their faces.
In the way both men seemed startled by the cost of their own passivity.
Richard took a step backward.
“I won’t ask to come in.”
Claire looked at Micah.
Then at Nora.
Then back at Richard.
“You can meet them later.”
Richard’s eyes filled.
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
“That’s not forgiveness.”
“I understand.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
He said nothing.
Richard turned to leave.
Then he stopped.
“There’s one other thing.”
Ethan’s expression tightened.
Richard looked at him.
“Your mother has your house keys.”
Ethan stared at his father.
“What do you mean she has our house keys?”
Richard rubbed one hand over the back of his neck.
“She took them from the bowl by the door before we left.”
Claire felt her body go cold in a way the hospital blankets could not fix.
“Why?”
Richard looked embarrassed.
“She said you might lock her out.”
Ethan’s face changed.
Not confusion this time.
Not guilt.
Anger.
“She took our keys because she thought I might lock her out?”
Richard nodded once.
“She said she was tired of being treated like a guest.”
Claire looked toward Rachel.
“Can someone make sure she doesn’t leave here and go to my house?”
Rachel’s expression sharpened.
“We can’t prevent her from leaving unless there’s a legal reason, but if you’re concerned about unauthorized entry, I’d recommend contacting local police and having the locks changed.”
Ethan set Nora carefully into the bassinet.
“I’m handling it.”
Claire watched him pull his phone from the belongings bag.
He powered it on.
Notifications flooded the screen before the home screen had fully loaded.
Calls.
Messages.
Voicemails.
A family group chat.
Victoria’s name again and again.
Ethan ignored all of it.
He called the non-emergency police number.
Claire listened while he explained that his mother had taken keys to their home without permission and that his wife, the homeowner with him, was hospitalized after an emergency delivery.
He did not embellish.
He did not call Victoria crazy.
He did not say she meant well.
When the dispatcher asked whether Victoria lived at the residence, Ethan said no.
When asked whether she had permission to enter, he looked at Claire.
“No.”
The word came easily.
Claire noticed that.
After the call, Ethan contacted a locksmith.
The first company could not come until the next morning.
The second offered an evening appointment.
Ethan booked it.
Then he texted Madison.
Do not give Mom access to the house.
Do not bring her there.
If she tries to enter, call me and call the police.
Madison replied almost immediately.
I won’t.
Then another message appeared.
I’m sorry.
Ethan turned the phone toward Claire.
She read it.
“You can answer her.”
He hesitated.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Whatever you actually think.”
He looked back at the screen.
Thank you for saying that.
Claire needs quiet.
I’ll update you when she wants updates.
Madison sent a heart.
Then, after a pause:
Tell Claire I left the shopping bags at your house because apparently I’m an idiot too.
Claire laughed before she could stop herself.
The laugh pulled painfully at her incision.
She pressed a hand to her abdomen and winced.
Ethan looked alarmed.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
She breathed through the discomfort.
“Your sister just became useful by accident.”
Richard let out a quiet laugh from the hallway.
Claire looked at him.
He looked ashamed of having laughed.
She almost smiled.
“Go home, Richard.”
He nodded.
“And if Victoria is there?”
“I won’t let her in.”
Claire studied him.
“Will you?”
Richard’s face tightened.
It was not an easy question for him.
That made his answer matter more.
“Yes.”
Claire nodded.
“Okay.”
Richard looked at Nora and Micah one last time from the doorway.
Then he left without asking to hold them.
Rachel followed him into the hall.
The room settled again.
Ethan sat beside the bed.
His phone buzzed.
A message from the security desk appeared through the hospital app.
Visitor restriction confirmed.
Claire stared at it.
“Everything leaves a record now.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Most things.”
“Not the important ones.”
He understood.
The kitchen had no record.
No camera.
No witness beyond family.
If everyone had chosen to deny it later, Claire would have been left carrying the truth alone.
Except for the emergency call.
Except for the paramedics.
Except for the hospital sheet.
Except for the consequences written into her blood pressure and lab results.
She looked at the blue folder.
“Take out the instruction sheet.”
Ethan did.
The red circle seemed even louder under hospital lighting.
May you like
Claire held out her hand.
He gave it to her.
