Chương 7
David’s anger loosened by a fraction.
Claire took out her phone. “There’s something else.”
She opened a family group chat that did not include Maya. Eleanor had posted a photograph two days earlier showing Maya asleep with Liam beside her.
Our fragile new mother is finally resting, the caption read. Please do not call or upset her. She is struggling more than David realizes.
Below it, relatives had responded with hearts, prayers, and offers to help. Eleanor had declined every offer.
“She told everyone to stay away,” Claire said.
David scrolled through the messages. His aunt had offered to bring groceries. A cousin had offered to sit with Liam. Claire herself had asked whether Maya wanted company. Eleanor had written, She becomes agitated around visitors.
“She built an explanation before anyone asked questions,” David said.
Claire rubbed glitter from beneath one eye. “Maybe she thought she was protecting her.”
Maya looked at her.
Claire’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry. I keep doing that.”
“Yes,” Maya said.
Claire flinched.
David expected Maya to soften the answer. She did not.
That evening, Eleanor’s attorney sent David an email marked confidential settlement communication. The message was brief. Eleanor was concerned that false allegations made during Maya’s medically compromised state could damage the company, the family, and Liam’s future. She proposed a private meeting before anyone made statements to authorities. She would fund a postpartum nurse, cover all medical expenses, and temporarily step back from the apartment if David agreed that the incident had resulted from misunderstanding and maternal exhaustion.
David read the email twice.
The offer contained everything they needed and demanded the one thing he could not give without erasing what happened.
He forwarded it to an attorney recommended by Serena.
Then he showed it to Maya.
She read slowly. “How much are the hospital bills?”
“We have insurance.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I don’t know yet.”
“What happens if she fires you?”
“I lose the year-end bonus. Our insurance continues for a while, then we’ll have to replace it.”
“And the rent?”
“We have savings.”
“How much?”
“Enough for several months here.”
Maya looked around the private hospital room, at the equipment and the city beyond the window. “Here is expensive.”
“We can move.”
Her eyes lifted to his. “You say that like apartments appear when you decide you need one.”
“I know they don’t.”
“No, you know how to call someone who finds one for you.”
David folded the email and unfolded it. “Do you want me to accept?”
Maya stared at him. “Do you?”
“No.”
“That wasn’t quick.”
“I was thinking about what it costs.”
“And?”
“And it costs less than pretending she didn’t do it.”
Maya’s eyes filled again. This time one tear crossed her cheek. She wiped it away impatiently.
“I hate that money matters,” she said.
“It does matter.”
“I hate that part of me wants the nurse.”
“We’ll hire one ourselves.”
“With what money?”
“Our money.”
“The money from your mother’s company.”
David looked down at the paper.
Nothing about leaving Eleanor’s control was clean. His salary had paid for the apartment, the meal service, Maya’s freelance studio, the bassinet, the private room upgrade, and every reassuring object they had mistaken for independence. Even the black suitcase still standing near their front door had been a company gift.
“I don’t know how to make the money innocent,” he said.
Maya leaned back against the pillows. “At least that sounds true.”
David declined the meeting through counsel.
The following morning, his company email stopped working.
A human resources representative called to inform him that he had been placed on administrative leave pending review of alleged misuse of corporate travel, failure to attend mandatory meetings, and conduct damaging to the firm. The representative sounded embarrassed and read from a prepared statement.
David listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he said, “Please send everything to my personal email.”
“There may also be questions regarding your expense reports.”
“Send those too.”
“David, off the record—”
“There is no off the record. Please document the call.”
She exhaled. “All right.”
Maya had heard from the bed.
“Misuse of travel?” she asked.
“The Toronto trip was approved.”
“By your mother.”
“Yes.”
“She sent you away and now says you shouldn’t have gone.”
“Yes.”
Maya closed her eyes. “She’ll say anything.”
David sat beside the window. “So will I, when it’s convenient.”
Maya opened her eyes.
“I told myself I had no choice about the trip,” he continued. “I told you that too. It wasn’t true. I had choices I didn’t like.”
She watched him carefully, as if waiting for the sentence to become a request for absolution.
He let it end where it was.
Liam remained in the hospital for another day. His labs improved, his temperature stabilized, and he began taking regular bottles. Maya visited him in a wheelchair, moving slowly with one hand over her incision. David walked beside her but did not touch the chair unless she asked.
When the nurse placed Liam in her arms, Maya’s body went rigid.
“He’s okay,” the nurse said.
Maya looked down at him. “I know.”
Liam rooted against her gown. Maya began to cry without sound.
The lactation consultant asked whether she wanted help attempting to nurse. Maya’s face tightened.
“No,” David said reflexively.
Maya turned toward him.
He felt the error before she spoke.
The consultant addressed Maya. “What would you like?”
Maya looked at Liam for a long time. “I want to feed him without anybody standing over me.”
“We can do that.”
“With a bottle.”
“Then we’ll use a bottle.”
David stepped back.
Maya fed Liam. Halfway through, her hand began to tremble. David moved forward, then stopped until she looked at him.
“Can you hold the bottom?” she asked.
He supported the bottle without touching her hand.
May you like
It was the first thing they did together after the kitchen that did not feel like an argument.
Priya returned that afternoon with a proposed safety plan. Eleanor would have no access to the apartment, no unsupervised contact with Liam, and no direct contact with Maya while the investigation continued. David and Maya would identify two alternative adults who could help with childcare. A visiting nurse would check on Maya. Liam would see his pediatrician within twenty-four hours of discharge. Both parents would participate in follow-up interviews.
