Chapter 7 - The Longest Flight Home
There was no commercial flight fast enough.
Roman found a private jet.
Weather delayed takeoff by twenty-two minutes.
Matthias spent every one of them calling Serena.
She was seven centimeters dilated when the plane finally left Chicago.
Thirty-two weeks and five days.
Too early.
But survivable.
That word became Matthias’s religion.
Survivable.
Serena’s mother arrived at the hospital.
So did Matthias’s mother, Eleanor.
The two women had barely spoken before.
Tonight they sat on opposite sides of Serena’s bed and behaved as though they had been family forever.
At 4:18 a.m., the baby’s heart rate dropped.
The obstetrician made the decision.
Emergency C-section.
Serena called Matthias one last time before they took her into surgery.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“You’re going to miss it.”
“I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“No.”
“Serena.”
She closed her eyes.
“I don’t want to fight right now.”
“Then we won’t.”
The aircraft shook slightly through turbulence.
Matthias pressed the phone against his ear.
“I love you.”
Silence.
He had said it thousands of times.
It had never sounded so helpless.
Serena whispered, “I know.”
Not I love you too.
He deserved that.
Then the line disconnected.
Their daughter was born at 4:37 a.m.
Four pounds, three ounces.
She cried once.
A tiny furious sound.
Then neonatologists carried her away.
Serena cried on the operating table.
“Is she breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“She’s breathing.”
Her name had been chosen months earlier.
Lillian Rose Dre.
Lily.
Matthias landed at 5:21.
He reached the hospital at 5:46.
He found Serena in recovery.
She looked exhausted.
Beautiful.
Angry.
Alive.
Matthias stopped at the doorway.
“Can I come in?”
Serena nodded.
He approached.
“Lily?”
“NICU.”
“Can I see her?”
“Soon.”
He sat.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Matthias began crying.
Serena had seen him bleed without flinching.
She had watched him face armed men.
She had never seen tears on his face.
“I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I almost did.”
He covered his face.
Serena reached toward him instinctively.
Then stopped.
Matthias noticed.
He lowered his hands.
“I’m sorry.”
She frowned.
“For crying?”
“For making you hesitate before touching me.”
That broke something inside her.
Serena took his hand.
Not forgiveness.
But not nothing.
They visited Lily together.
Their daughter looked impossibly small inside the incubator.
Matthias slipped one finger through the access port.
Lily’s tiny hand closed around it.
He stopped breathing.
Serena watched him.
“Hi,” he whispered.
His voice cracked.
“I’m your dad.”
Lily tightened her fingers.
Matthias laughed through tears.
“I have made a catastrophic number of mistakes.”
Serena almost smiled.
“But you are not one of them.”
He looked at Serena.
“Neither is your mother.”
Serena turned away before he saw her cry.
For the next three weeks, the NICU became their world.
Matthias slept in chairs.
He learned every nurse’s name.
He changed diapers with the concentration of a bomb technician.
He attended every meeting.
And he never once asked Serena what her decision about their marriage would be.
Outside the hospital, the Dre empire collapsed.
Charles was indicted.
Hensley remained missing.
Graham Pell agreed to cooperate.
Fiona and Daniel entered protective custody.
Matthias resigned as CEO.
The board panicked.
The newspapers called it a dynasty in crisis.
Matthias did not care.
On Christmas morning, exactly one year after the party had been planned for the following Christmas cycle, Serena woke in the family room beside the NICU.
Matthias had placed a tiny stocking near Lily’s incubator.
SERENA frowned.
“You bought that?”
“I did.”
“It’s crooked.”
“I am not talented at stockings.”
She smiled.
Matthias stared.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I missed your smile.”
Serena’s expression softened.
Before she could answer, Roman entered.
He did not look festive.
“Hensley surfaced.”
Matthias stood.
“Where?”
Roman looked toward Serena.
“Connecticut.”
Serena’s stomach tightened.
Roman continued.
“He went to the Dre estate.”
“Why?”
“We think he’s looking for one final piece of evidence.”
Serena frowned.
“We found the ledgers.”
“Not evidence against him.”
Roman looked at Matthias.
“Evidence against someone else.”
“Who?”
Roman placed a photograph on the table.
Eleanor Dre.
Matthias’s mother.
Serena stared.
May you like
Roman’s next words changed everything.
“Your mother has been meeting Hensley for twenty-three years.”
