Chapter 3 - THE WRONG EMERGENCY CONTACT
Daniel reached the hospital almost four hours after Sarah arrived.
His hair was combed.
His shirt was different.
And Ashley walked in behind him carrying a designer tote bag.
Megan stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
“You brought her?”
Daniel frowned as if Megan were the unreasonable one.
“She was worried.”
Sarah was breathing through another contraction. She did not have the energy to argue.
Ashley approached the bed with exaggerated concern.
“You look exhausted.”
Megan stepped between them.
“Leave.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Ashley didn’t do anything.”
Sarah opened her eyes.
That was when she understood the shape of the problem.
Daniel was not confused.
He had already chosen his version of reality.
Sarah turned to the nurse.
“Please remove her from the room.”
The nurse did.
Daniel remained, but the air between him and Sarah had become cold.
Their daughter, Lily, was born that evening after a difficult but non-graphic labor. When the nurse placed the baby against Sarah’s chest, the world narrowed to a tiny warm face and a cry that made Sarah laugh and sob at the same time.
For several minutes, Daniel cried too.
He kissed Sarah’s forehead.
“I’m sorry.”
She wanted to believe that sentence.
Then his phone vibrated.
Ashley.
Daniel silenced it.
Ten minutes later, it vibrated again.
Sarah looked away.
The next morning, a hospital administrator entered with paperwork.
“We need to correct one item in the pre-registration file.”
Sarah frowned.
“What item?”
“Your emergency contact information.”
Daniel stiffened.
The administrator handed Sarah a printed page.
The primary contact was Daniel.
The secondary contact was not Megan.
It was Ashley Monroe.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“I put Megan.”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
“It might have updated from my profile.”
“No.”
Sarah tapped the page.
“I filled this out myself.”
The administrator hesitated.
“There was an online amendment two weeks ago.”
“From whose account?”
The woman checked.
“Your household account.”
Sarah’s stomach dropped.
Daniel spoke quickly.
“I probably changed it when Ashley was helping us organize everything.”
Sarah stared at him.
“Why was she organizing my hospital information?”
Daniel had no answer.
That afternoon, while Daniel was in the cafeteria, Megan brought Sarah’s laptop.
Sarah logged into the home network portal.
Ashley had been added as a permanent household user.
Not by Daniel’s guest account.
By Sarah’s administrator account.
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The change had been made at 2:14 a.m. on a night Sarah had been asleep upstairs.
And the device used to make the change was Sarah’s own laptop.
