CHAP 3 — Under the Bed
My body should not have been able to move that fast.
I had stitches. A fever. Legs that trembled when I stood. Every breath still pulled at the deep ache childbirth had left behind.
But Lily’s voice did something no medicine could do.
It made me obey.
I lifted Thomas from the bassinet and held him tightly against my chest. He stirred once, mouth opening in a tiny silent protest, then settled beneath the blue swaddle.
Lily pulled the blanket low over the side of the bed.
“Come on,” she whispered.
I slid down to the floor, teeth clenched against pain so sharp it made sparks appear behind my eyes. Lily crawled beside me, dragging the corner of my robe down so the blue fabric would not show.
The space under the bed smelled like disinfectant and metal.
Dust gathered near the wheels.
The floor beneath my cheek was cold.
Lily pressed one hand over my mouth, not because I was screaming, but because she knew I might.
The door opened.
Rachel’s shoes crossed the floor.
Slow.
Certain.
The mattress dipped as her hand pressed the pillow where my head had been.
“Where did she go?” Rachel muttered.
Another pair of shoes entered.
Men’s shoes.
Michael.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “Where’s Deborah?”
My heart split in two different directions.
Relief.
Then terror.
Rachel’s voice dropped.
“Your obstacle will soon be gone.”
Michael backed up.
“What are you talking about?”
“We planned this,” Rachel hissed. “You and me. The baby. A life without her.”
“No,” Michael said, voice shaking. “I said I wanted time. I said I didn’t know how to leave.”
Rachel laughed softly.
“You said she ruined everything. You said the baby was supposed to be ours.”
Under the bed, Lily shook so hard her curls brushed my face.
Thomas made a tiny sound.
Rachel stopped.
Silence.
Then she crouched.
Her face appeared beneath the metal bed frame.
Blonde hair.
Cold eyes.
A syringe in her hand.
“Found you.”
For one second, I saw everything.
My newborn son pressed to my chest.
My daughter trying not to sob.
The woman who had touched my IV.
The husband who had made my hospital room unsafe by letting another woman believe I was disposable.
Rachel reached forward.
Something in me turned ancient.
I did not think.
I did not plead.
I screamed.
“Get away from my children!”
The sound ripped through the room.
Lily threw her small body backward and kicked the rolling tray as hard as she could. Metal crashed against the wall. Thomas began wailing.
Rachel flinched.
Then the hospital door slammed open.
Security guards rushed in, followed by Carol, Hannah, and a doctor in a white coat.
Rachel snapped upright.
The syringe slipped from her hand and clattered across the floor.
Her face went from venom to panic so quickly it was almost beautiful.
Carol pointed at her.
“That’s her! That’s the nurse Lily warned us about!”
Michael stood frozen near the wall.
I stayed under the bed, holding both my children.
Rachel looked down at me.
May you like
For the first time, she looked afraid.
Good.
I wanted her to remember that feeling.
