Chapter 6 - The Visitor in the Dark
Late that evening, after visiting hours had officially closed, the NICU was hushed.
Daniel had gone down to the cafeteria to get us some water. I was sitting beside Lily’s incubator, holding her tiny hand through the rubber access ports, singing a low lullaby.
The heavy door of the NICU creaked open.
I turned around, expecting to see the night nurse with Lily’s medication.
Instead, standing in the doorway was Nora Hartwell.
I gasped, pulling my hand out of the incubator and standing up so fast my chair rattled against the floor.
Nora looked unrecognizable. She wasn't wearing her designer suits or silver jewelry. She was wearing a baggy gray raincoat over sweatpants, her hair unwashed and pulled into a messy knot. Her face was pale, hollowed out, and her eyes were bloodshot. She had paid a low-level bail bondsman before the federal freeze took full effect, slipping out of county custody on temporary bond.
“How did you get in here?” I demanded, my voice trembling with a mixture of fear and rage. “Get out, Nora! I’m calling security!”
“Avery, please,” Nora begged, taking a frantic step forward, raising her trembling, manicured hands. “Don't call them. Please. Just listen to me for two minutes.”
“Do not come near my daughter!” I shouted, stepping between her and the plastic incubator, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“I didn't mean for the baby to be born early!” Nora wept, clutching her raincoat to her neck. “You have to tell Daniel! You have to tell the police it was a misunderstanding! If I go to prison, Avery... if I go to prison, everything I built is gone!”
I stared at her, stunned by the absolute, monstrous selfishness of her words. Even now, standing in an intensive care unit beside her three-pound granddaughter, she was only thinking of herself.
“A misunderstanding?” I whispered, tears of rage burning my eyes. “You heard me screaming, Nora. You looked at the water on the floor. You took my phone so I couldn't call for help, and you dropped the key in a vase so no one could save us!”
“I was trying to protect Claire’s day!” she shrieked softly, her face twisting into a mask of pathetic desperation. “I spent months planning it! I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars—”
“Money you stole!” I cut her off, my voice sharp as a razor. “Money you stole from innocent people while you acted like a queen! You locked me in a room because you cared more about your fake reputation than your granddaughter’s life!”
“She’s fine!” Nora yelled, pointing a shaking finger at the incubator. “Look at her! She’s alive! She’s fine! Why are you trying to ruin my life over something that turned out fine?!”
“She is alive because Paige had a heart!” a voice thundered from the doorway.
Daniel stood there, holding two plastic bottles of water. His face was pure white with fury. He dropped the bottles; they crashed onto the floor, rolling across the tiles.
Nora spun around, her eyes wide with terror. “Daniel... son, please—”
Daniel walked toward her with slow, deliberate steps. He didn't raise his hands, but the overwhelming aura of lethal anger radiating from him made Nora back up until her spine hit the heavy glass wall of the unit.
“Don't ever call me your son again,” Daniel said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. “You are a monster.”
“Daniel, I raised you!” she sobbed, grabbing at his sleeve. “I sacrificed everything for you after your father left! I worked two jobs! You owe me your life!”
Daniel pulled his arm away with such force that Nora stumbled against the wall.
“You didn't sacrifice for us, Nora,” Daniel spat, tears of profound betrayal filling his eyes. “You used us. You used us to make yourself feel powerful. And when my wife was dying on a bathroom floor, you chose your vanity over her life.”
Two heavy security guards rushed into the room, alerted by the nurse at the station.
“Sir? Is there a problem?” the head guard asked, grabbing Nora by her arms.
“This woman is trespassing,” Daniel said, never taking his eyes off Nora’s face. “She has a restraining order being processed. Take her away.”
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“Daniel! Daniel, please!” Nora screamed as the guards dragged her backward down the hall, her feet dragging on the polished floor. “You’re my son! You can’t do this to me! Daniel!”
Daniel didn't answer. He stood in the hallway until her screams faded into the distance, then turned around, walked back into the room, and pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck as he wept.
