Part 2: The Baby No One Was Watching
Sarah moved so quickly that Margot nearly lost her balance.
“Step back,” she ordered.
She reached into Lily’s bassinet, touched her tiny chest, and immediately pressed a button on the wall.
Within seconds, the room filled with people.
A doctor rushed in. Another nurse rolled equipment toward the bassinet. Someone pulled Tom away. Someone else lowered my bed and checked my oxygen because I was hyperventilating.
“What’s happening?” I cried. “What’s wrong with my baby?”
Tom stood frozen near the door.
Then Sarah turned sharply.
“Mr. Whitmore, I need you to take your son and move away from the care team.”
Tom blinked, as if waking from a trance. He took Ethan from Margot, but his hands were shaking.
“Is she breathing? Is Lily breathing?”
Finally, the doctor looked at me.
“She had a sudden drop in oxygen. We’re helping her now.”
Then I heard it.
A small, weak cry.
The doctor explained that Lily needed to be taken to the neonatal unit for close monitoring. Her breathing had become dangerously shallow, and if Sarah had not noticed the change when she did, the outcome could have been much worse.
“Can I go with her?” I asked.
“You need to recover,” the doctor said gently. “Your husband can go.”
I looked at Tom.
He looked at his mother.
Margot adjusted the cuff of her jacket.
“Surely the doctors can handle it,” she said. “Thomas should stay with his son.”
The room went completely still.
Sarah stared at her.
Tom opened his mouth, but I spoke first.
“Go with Lily.”
“She is your child too.”
He looked at me, then at the hallway where the medical team had taken our daughter.
Finally, he handed Ethan to Sarah and ran after them.
“You’re being dramatic,” Margot said.
I turned my face toward her.
“Get out.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Get out of my room.”
“I came here to welcome my grandson.”
“You came here to reject my daughter.”
“You are exhausted and emotional,” she said. “You don’t understand the traditions of this family.”
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand my family.”
A security officer arrived a few minutes later.
Margot left without saying goodbye.
