Chapter 11 - Nora Eleanor
The neonatal clinician rubbed Nora's back, positioned a mask, and helped air into her tiny lungs. Emily watched every movement from behind the drape. She had never wanted a sound so badly in her life.
Then Nora let out a thin, offended squeak.
"There she is," the clinician said.
Emily started sobbing. She was shaking. "That's my girl. That's my girl."
Nora needed breathing support and the neonatal intensive care unit. Dr. Chen explained that premature babies sometimes needed time for their lungs to catch up. She also told Emily the surgical team had controlled the bleeding. Both of them had made it through the delivery.
Later, in recovery, Emily found Raymond beside her bed. He looked older than he'd looked in the elevator hallway. His eyes were red.
"You should sleep," she told him.
"You should stop giving orders when you've just had surgery."
"I'm the owner, apparently."
He laughed through a tear. "Apparently you are."
He showed her a photograph the neonatal nurse had taken with permission. Nora lay inside a clear incubator, her hand smaller than Emily's thumb. Soft tubes curved around her cheeks. Emily touched the screen.
"Tell her I didn't leave," she whispered.
"She knows."
Ava came in with news neither of them wanted. Preston's attorneys had filed an emergency court petition. He claimed Emily was mentally unfit to exercise her voting rights, that Raymond was exploiting her hospitalization, and that an immediate freeze was needed to protect the hospital from chaos.
"Can he do that?" Emily asked.
"He can file a petition," Ava said. "That doesn't make it true. A judge will need evidence. We'll respond."
Emily closed her eyes for one moment. Her body ached; her daughter was behind locked doors; and Preston was still trying to turn her injuries into his opportunity.
"What evidence did he attach?"
Ava hesitated. "A statement from someone who claims you weren't assaulted. Someone who says you were confused when you arrived."
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She laid a page on Emily's blanket.
At the bottom was Rebecca Hale's name, followed by a signature and the words SWORN UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY.
