Chapter 2 - THE HOSPITAL ROOM
I woke up three days later.
The first thing I heard was the steady beep of a monitor.
The second thing I felt was someone holding my hand.
Ryan.
He looked terrible.
His eyes were red.
His beard had grown out.
His clothes were wrinkled.
“Hey,” he whispered.
I stared at him.
Then I remembered.
The balcony.
The glass.
Melissa.
I tried to sit up.
Ryan immediately pushed the button for the nurse.
“Don't move.”
“What happened?”
“You passed out.”
“My baby?”
“She's okay.”
I closed my eyes.
A sob escaped me.
“She kicked?”
Ryan nodded.
“She kicked.”
I cried.
For the first time in three days, I allowed myself to cry.
Ryan squeezed my hand.
“I'm sorry.”
I opened my eyes.
“For what?”
He looked down.
“I should have listened to you.”
The room went silent.
I studied his face.
“How long was I outside?”
He didn't answer immediately.
“Ryan.”
“Almost forty minutes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Forty?”
He nodded.
“You were unconscious when my dad found you.”
I remembered the cold.
The pain.
Melissa's face.
Then something else came back.
The glass.
“Ryan.”
“Yes?”
“She locked me out.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“You know?”
“My dad saw the lock.”
I stared at him.
“Did Melissa admit it?”
“No.”
Of course she hadn't.
“She said you accidentally locked yourself outside.”
I almost laughed.
“Accidentally?”
Ryan lowered his head.
“I don't believe her.”
“Do you believe me?”
His silence hurt more than I expected.
Then he looked up.
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“I didn't before,” he whispered. “But I do now.”
A doctor entered the room.
“Mrs. Carter, there's something we need to discuss.”
Ryan stood.
The doctor looked at both of us.
“Your bloodwork came back.”
My heart started pounding.
“What did you find?”
“You had elevated levels of a medication called misoprostol.”
I frowned.
“I've never taken that.”
The doctor nodded.
“That is why we're concerned.”
Ryan looked confused.
“What does it do?”
“In certain circumstances, it can cause uterine contractions.”
My hand instinctively moved toward my stomach.
The doctor continued.
“We cannot say yet how it entered your system.”
Ryan's face became rigid.
“What are you saying?”
“We're saying someone may have intentionally exposed your wife to it.”
The room went completely silent.
Ryan slowly turned toward me.
I looked at him.
Neither of us spoke.
Then the doctor added one sentence.
“Given the circumstances surrounding her collapse, we've notified hospital security and requested a police report.”
Two hours later, a detective arrived.
Her name was Detective Lauren Hayes.
She was calm.
Professional.
She didn't look at me like a victim.
She looked at me like someone whose story mattered.
“Mrs. Carter,” she said, “I need you to tell me everything you remember.”
So I did.
The dinner.
Melissa's insults.
The kitchen.
The balcony.
The lock.
Her words.
Every detail.
Detective Hayes wrote everything down.
Then she asked, “Did anyone else have access to your drink?”
I thought.
“No.”
“What did you drink?”
“Sparkling water.”
“Who poured it?”
“Melissa.”
Ryan suddenly looked up.
Detective Hayes noticed.
“She poured it?”
“Yes.”
Melissa had smiled when she handed it to me.
I remembered that now.
“You should drink something,” she'd said.
At the time, I'd thought she was pretending to be nice.
Now my skin crawled.
Detective Hayes closed her notebook.
“I need one more thing.”
“What?”
“Your phone.”
“Why?”
“If Melissa texted you before or after the incident, it could be important.”
Ryan reached into my purse.
He handed her the phone.
She looked at the screen.
Then stopped.
“There is one message here.”
“What?”
Detective Hayes turned the phone toward us.
The message had been sent by Melissa two days before Thanksgiving.
It contained only six words.
You won't be pregnant much longer.
My blood ran cold.
Ryan stared at the screen.
“I've never seen that.”
I looked at him.
“Because she deleted it from my phone.”
Detective Hayes frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I remember receiving it.”
She looked at Ryan.
“Did your wife tell you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
I swallowed.
“Because Ryan told me not to start another fight with his sister.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
May you like
That sentence destroyed something between us.
And he knew it.
