Chapter 17 - The Garage
Ramirez kept the line open.
Rain hammered our house. Officers shouted. A car engine roared.
"Evelyn Vale! Turn off the vehicle!"
Then came a crash.
"Ramirez?"
Nothing.
"Ramirez!"
His voice returned. "She's okay. She backed into the garage door. Officers have her."
Claire started crying.
Not exactly from relief. Her body simply had nowhere else to put the fear.
I held her.
Then another contraction hit.
And another.
Dr. Patel checked her.
"You're progressing. You're not going home tonight."
The plan had failed, but labor had started anyway.
Police arrested my mother while hospital staff prepared us for an early delivery.
At 11:06 p.m., Claire looked at me.
"I'm scared."
"Me too. But I'm here."
"Even if the board calls?"
I powered off my phone and dropped it into a drawer.
"They can survive without me."
She almost smiled.
Then the fetal monitor changed.
A nurse rushed in.
"Claire, left side. Now."
Dr. Patel appeared seconds later.
The baby's heart rate dropped, recovered, then dropped again.
"We need to move," she said.
Claire grabbed my hand.
"Adrian, don't decide for me because you're afraid. Promise."
I thought of my mother.
"I promise I'll listen."
May you like
The doors opened.
Suddenly we were running toward an operating room.
