CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 2
The crack against the acrylic wall of the incubator echoed through the neonatal intensive care unit like the snap of a whip.
I didn’t feel the impact against my cheekbone or the scrape across my shoulder as I hit the floor. My brain had shut out every trace of physical pain because something far worse had taken over me—a cold, primitive terror unlike anything I had ever known.
The only thing I could hear was Mateo’s heart monitor.
For twelve days, its steady, rhythmic beep... beep... beep... had become the soundtrack of my life. Now it exploded into a shrill, frantic alarm. The waveform on the screen flashed red as his heart rate skyrocketed.
The violent strike against the incubator had startled him so badly that his fragile nervous system, still struggling to develop, had gone into shock.
I collapsed onto my knees on the cold hospital tiles. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth where I had bitten through my lip during the fall.
My vision blurred by tears and panic, I looked up just in time to see my mother-in-law's hand.
Leticia stood over me like an executioner.
Her face—normally stretched smooth by expensive cosmetic treatments and flawless makeup—had twisted into something almost animal. Her hand was raised, ready to slap me again while I was still lying helpless on the floor.
“You stupid girl!” she hissed through clenched teeth.
“You're completely useless! You can't even take care of your own child!”
Before her hand could crash into my face again, however, the sliding doors of the NICU burst open.
“What the hell is going on here?”
The roar belonged to Dr. Robles.
Dr. Robles was a sixty-year-old neonatologist whose calm presence seemed to soothe everyone around him.
During the two weeks I'd spent in this hospital, I had never once heard him raise his voice.
He always spoke in gentle whispers, with the comforting tone of a grandfather.
But now...
His voice thundered through the room.
Leticia jerked her hand down as though she had been burned.
Then something horrifying happened.
In less than a second, her entire expression changed.
The furious aggressor vanished.
In her place appeared the perfect victim.
Her features softened.
Her eyes instantly filled with fake tears.
She pressed one trembling hand dramatically against her chest.
“Oh, thank God you're here, Doctor Robles!” she cried.
“This woman has completely lost her mind! She just tried to hurt my grandson!”
Dr. Robles didn't even look at her.
His eyes swept across the room in a single second.
Me...
Lying on the floor.
Blood running from my mouth.
The incubator screaming with alarms.
“Carmen! Patient One—now!”
He rushed straight toward Mateo.
Two nurses hurried inside.
Carmen—the warm, motherly nurse who had patiently taught me how to change Mateo's tiny diapers—ran to assist the doctor.
The other nurse, Patty, hurried toward me.
“Valeria... sweetheart... what happened?”
She knelt beside me and gently helped me sit up.
“You're bleeding.”
“Mateo...”
It was all I could manage to whisper.
“The monitor... the impact...”
Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.
“Did I hurt him?”
“Please tell me I didn't hurt him.”
I struggled to my feet despite the stabbing pain in my knee.
Clinging desperately to Patty's arm, I stared at the glass incubator where my son was fighting to stabilize.
Dr. Robles immediately opened the incubator ports.
His gloved hands moved with astonishing precision.
“He's desaturating.”
“Heart rate one-eighty.”
“Carmen, prepare free-flow oxygen if he doesn't recover within ten seconds.”
His voice had become purely clinical.
Professional.
Emotionless.
Those ten seconds became the longest of my entire life.
The whole universe shrank to the tiny monitor beside my son.
If Mateo stopped breathing because of me...
Because I hadn't been able to keep my balance...
I would die right there.
There would be no life after that.
“Come on, little champion...”
“Breathe with me.”
Using two fingers, Dr. Robles gently stroked Mateo's tiny translucent chest, stimulating him.
Slowly...
The piercing alarm became less frantic.
The flashing red line returned to green.
His heart rate dropped.
One-sixty...
One-fifty...
His oxygen saturation climbed steadily.
“We've got him.”
“He's coming back.”
Dr. Robles carefully closed the incubator.
“It was an exaggerated Moro reflex caused by the impact against the acrylic.”
“He was terribly frightened.”
A sob of overwhelming relief escaped me.
My legs gave out.
Patty caught me before I hit the floor again and guided me toward one of the reclining chairs.
“Drink some water.”
“Take deep breaths.”
She gently dabbed the blood from my lip with sterile gauze.
“That cheekbone is going to swell.”
“I'll take care of it.”
I was about to thank her...
When Leticia's poisonous voice shattered the fragile peace.
“I hope someone calls the police.”
“Or psychiatric services.”
She folded her arms, glaring at me with pure disgust.
“Those postpartum hormones have made her completely unstable.”
“I knew she wasn't mentally strong enough to handle a premature baby.”
“She snapped.”
“She attacked him.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
The sheer audacity...
The absolute coldness with which she was weaving this lie...
Left me speechless.
“What are you talking about?”
“You pushed me!”
“You threw me into the incubator!”
“How shameless!” Leticia shouted dramatically.
“I just arrived!”
“I brought clean clothes for my grandson because my poor son Arturo works day and night paying for this outrageously expensive hospital.”
“When I walked in, I saw her grabbing the baby.”
“She panicked when she noticed me watching.”
“She lost her balance all by herself.”
“I never even touched her.”
Dr. Robles slowly turned toward Leticia.
“Mrs. Leticia.”
His voice was calm.
Low.
Dangerously controlled.
“This is an intensive care unit.”
“I will not tolerate shouting.”
“I will not tolerate disturbances.”
“If you cannot control yourself, I will ask hospital security to escort you out.”
May you like
...
(Continued in Chapter 3.)
