Chapter 2 - “DO NOT TOUCH MY BABY”
My mother looked at Clara for a long time.
Then she held out her hand.
“Give her to me.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“No.”
Diane’s eyebrows rose.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Natalie, you’re exhausted. You’re medicated. Hand me the baby.”
Clara stirred against my chest.
I instinctively curled one arm around her.
Brielle scoffed.
“Oh my God. Nobody is stealing your kid.”
“I didn’t say anyone was.”
“You’re acting like it.”
My mother stepped closer.
“Natalie, we have twenty-seven thousand dollars due in less than three hours. You are clearly not thinking rationally.”
I stared at her.
“You think refusing to spend twenty-seven thousand dollars on orchids and champagne means I’m irrational?”
“It isn’t just orchids.”
Brielle crossed her arms.
“There’s a production company.”
“Wonderful.”
“And I already signed contracts.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
Her expression changed.
“I signed them because Mom said you would cover the deposit.”
I slowly turned toward Diane.
“You promised her my money?”
“Family helps family.”
“No.”
My mother’s face hardened.
“Excuse me?”
“Family asks.”
I adjusted Clara gently.
“Family does not walk into a hospital room the morning after emergency surgery and demand someone’s credit card.”
Brielle moved toward the rolling cabinet where my purse sat.
“I’m done with this.”
I saw her hand reaching for the bag.
“Don’t.”
She kept going.
“Brielle.”
“I’m not stealing anything. I’m getting the card so Mom can handle this and you can go back to being dramatic.”
I reached for the nurse-call button.
Brielle saw me.
She lunged.
Not at Clara.
At my hand.
Her hip struck the side rail of the hospital bed.
Pain ripped through my incision so violently that I cried out.
Clara woke screaming.
Everything happened at once.
I clutched my daughter.
Brielle grabbed the call-button cord.
My mother reached toward Clara.
“Give her to me before you drop her!”
Something inside me exploded.
“DON’T TOUCH MY BABY!”
My scream carried into the hallway.
Diane froze.
Then a nurse appeared.
“What’s happening?”
My mother immediately changed.
Her shoulders dropped.
Her voice softened.
“My daughter is confused from medication.”
I stared at her.
“She’s refusing to let me help with the baby, and she almost—”
“No.”
The word came from me so clearly that the nurse turned.
“I am not confused.”
I pointed toward Brielle.
“She tried to take my purse.”
Then toward Diane.
“She reached for my daughter after I told her not to.”
Brielle laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
The nurse stepped between them and the bed.
“I need both of you to leave the room.”
Diane’s face sharpened.
“We’re her family.”
“So is the newborn.”
The nurse reached toward the wall panel.
“I’m calling security.”
My mother looked at me.
That old warning look.
The one that had made me retreat since childhood.
Don’t make this harder.
I stared back.
For the first time, I did not retreat.
“Call them.”
Brielle swore.
Then she grabbed my purse.
Actually grabbed it.
I screamed again.
The nurse caught the strap.
“Put that down.”
“My card is in there!” Brielle shouted.
The sentence hung in the room.
My card.
Not:
My sister’s card.
My card.
Even Brielle seemed to hear herself.
Then footsteps thundered outside.
The door opened.
Two hospital security officers entered first.
Behind them was Grant.
He was carrying our forgotten overnight bag.
But he was not alone.
A tall, silver-haired man followed him into the room.
My mother’s entire face changed.
The anger disappeared.
So did Brielle’s.
“Richard?”
I stared.
I had not seen Richard Mercer, my mother’s older brother, in almost seven years.
My uncle looked at Diane.
Then at Brielle holding my purse.
Then at me in the hospital bed.
Then at my daughter screaming against my chest.
His expression became very still.
“Put Natalie’s bag down.”
Brielle obeyed immediately.
My mother recovered.
“What are you doing here?”
Richard ignored her.
He looked at me.
“Natalie, are you all right?”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer I had given anyone all morning.
Grant crossed the room and came to my side.
He saw my face.
Then Clara.
“What happened?”
I started crying.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
“I think I pulled something.”
The nurse immediately checked me.
Grant’s face hardened as I explained.
Brielle tried to interrupt.
Security stopped her.
Then Richard said something that made the entire room quiet.
“Diane, I was already coming to see Natalie today.”
My mother stared at him.
“Why?”
He lifted a large brown envelope.
“Because the bank froze the Mercer Family Trust yesterday.”
Brielle went white.
I looked between them.
“What trust?”
Richard’s eyes met mine.
May you like
And I knew from his expression that whatever came next had very little to do with a birthday party.
“The one your mother told you was empty twelve years ago.”
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