Chương 10
Mara answered.
Then the questions moved backward.
Previous injuries.
Breathing restriction.
Head trauma.
Water exposure.
Mara felt herself separating from the answers.
Yes.
No.
Sometimes.
Six weeks.
Before pregnancy too.
Not every night then.
More often now.
Dr. Ellis never reacted with surprise.
She asked what she needed and moved on.
When the exam was over, she pulled the blanket back over Mara’s legs.
“I want to keep you for observation.”
“How long?”
“At least several hours.”
“And if the contractions keep happening?”
“We adjust from there.”
Mara looked toward the zipped purse.
“What if Daniel stays downstairs the whole time?”
Priya answered.
“Then he stays downstairs.”
“What if he waits until I leave?”
Neither woman answered quickly enough.
Mara understood.
The hospital could protect a room.
Not a parking lot.
Not tomorrow.
Not Lena’s apartment.
Not every doorway afterward.
Dr. Ellis folded her hands.
“That’s where planning matters.”
Mara stared at the monitor.
The baby’s heartbeat kept moving.
Fast.
Steady.
Alive.
For weeks Mara had believed survival depended on finding one opening.
Now she saw the harder truth.
An opening was only the first door.
After that came hallways.
Locks.
Records.
Money.
People who might help and people who might not.
A husband waiting downstairs with a patient smile.
Priya stepped toward the door.
“I’m going to ask the advocate to come in.”
Mara almost said no.
Then she thought of the torn card scattered over her blue shirt at home.
“Okay.”
Priya nodded.
Mara looked at her before she could leave.
“And security?”
“Yes?”
“Tell them not to let Daniel know when I’m discharged.”
Priya’s eyes sharpened with approval, but she kept her voice neutral.
“I’ll tell them.”
Mara settled back against the pillow.
Her hands were still shaking.
She let them shake.
For the first time, she did not try to make herself look calm.
The advocate arrived carrying no clipboard.
She wore jeans, low black shoes, and a hospital badge clipped to the pocket of a gray cardigan.
“My name is Tessa Morgan.”
Mara looked at the badge.
“Are you with the hospital?”
“I work through a community program that partners with the hospital.”
“Do you tell the police what I say?”
“Not automatically.”
Tessa pulled one of the chairs closer but did not sit until Mara nodded.
“There are limits to confidentiality, and I’ll explain them before you decide what you want to tell me.”
Mara glanced toward the door.
“Daniel is downstairs.”
“I know.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Tessa sat.
“Before anything else, do you want Lena brought back when she arrives?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
“Do you want Daniel to receive any information about your condition?”
“No.”
Tessa nodded.
“That restriction is already documented.”
Mara rubbed the heel of one hand against her eyebrow.
“Everyone keeps saying documented.”
“Does that bother you?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at the monitor.
“It feels like the first time anything is written down somewhere he can’t change it.”
Tessa did not respond with a comforting phrase.
Mara appreciated that too.
Instead she said, “Would you like me to explain what choices you have today?”
“Yes.”
“Only today.”
Mara’s eyes lifted.
“What?”
“I’m not going to give you a ten-year life plan while you’re lying in a hospital bed.”
For the first time, Mara smiled without immediately regretting it.
Tessa noticed but did not make anything of it.
“Today, you can stay here as long as the medical team needs you.”
She spoke slowly, leaving room between each option.
“You can ask security to escort you out when you leave.”
“You can make a police report, or you can choose not to make one right now.”
“You can ask about an emergency protective order, depending on what the court process looks like here.”
“You can go to your sister’s home, another trusted place, or a confidential shelter if that feels safer.”
“You can also change your mind about any of those things.”
Mara looked down at her hands.
“What happens if I report him?”
“That depends on what you report, what evidence exists, what law enforcement determines, and what prosecutors decide.”
“So you don’t know.”
“No.”
The honesty frightened Mara less than certainty would have.
“Could they arrest him?”
“They could.”
“Would they?”
“I can’t promise that.”
“What if they don’t?”
“That’s something we plan around too.”
Mara heard footsteps outside the room.
Her body tensed before a shadow even crossed beneath the door.
Tessa noticed.
“Do you want the door closed?”
“It is closed.”
“Locked?”
Mara stared at it.
“I don’t think patient rooms lock from inside.”
“They usually don’t.”
“Then no.”
Tessa leaned slightly forward.
“What happened to your phone?”
“He had it.”
“Does he have access now?”
“I changed the passcode.”
“Email?”
“Changed that too.”
“Cloud storage?”
“Yes.”
“Banking?”
Mara stopped.
She had forgotten banking.
Daniel handled most of their household finances.
Her paycheck from the design firm went into the joint checking account.
She had a separate savings account from before the marriage, but it contained less than nine hundred dollars.
Daniel knew about it.
He had once joked that it was her “runaway fund.”
At the time, she had laughed.
“I need to change that.”
Tessa nodded.
“Not from hospital Wi-Fi if you’re worried about linked devices or shared credentials.”
Mara looked at her.
“You think he could see it?”
“I think it’s better to assume he may know more passwords and recovery answers than you expect.”
Mara thought of the security questions on one old account.
First pet.
Mother’s maiden name.
Street where you grew up.
Daniel knew all of them.
Her stomach tightened.
The monitor responded with another rising line.
Tessa’s eyes flicked toward it.
“I’m making this worse.”
“No.”
“You’re stressed.”
“I was already stressed.”
The contraction faded.
Mara let her head rest against the pillow.
“I thought getting out of the house would be the hard part.”
“It is one hard part.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“It probably does.”
May you like
Mara gave a tired laugh.
Tessa’s mouth moved slightly.
