Chapter 6 - The Hospital Corridor
The pediatric wing of Hawthorne Medical Center was on the fourth floor, but my mother was on the second, in the cardiac care unit.
The elevator doors opened to a scene of quiet, professional chaos. Two nurses were standing near the reception desk, looking uncomfortably toward the waiting area down the hall.
As I rounded the corner, I heard Callie’s voice, shrill and hysterical, echoing off the linoleum walls.
“She is my mother!” Callie was screaming at a security guard who was standing firmly in front of the double doors leading to the patient rooms. “I have a right to see her! You can’t keep me out because of some family drama! My daughter just died!”
“Ma'am, the patient’s husband has requested that you not be allowed in the room,” the guard said, his voice calm but unyielding. “I need you to step back, or I will have to escort you from the building.”
“This is ridiculous!” Callie cried, turning around and spotting me as I approached. Her face flushed a deep, ugly red. “You! This is your fault! You told Dad to keep me away from her! You’re turning everyone against me!”
I didn't stop walking until I was standing directly in front of her.
She looked terrible. Her white linen pants were wrinkled and dirty, her hair greasy, her expensive sunglasses missing. She looked like a woman who had spent the last three days sleeping in a cheap motel—which she had.
“Our mother is in a hospital bed because of you, Callie,” I said, my voice quiet but carrying a lethal weight. “Her heart is failing because she had to bury her three-year-old granddaughter while her daughter was in Miami sleeping with her son-in-law. You did this. Not me.”
“It was an accident!” Callie sobbed, reaching for my arm. “We didn't mean to fall in love, Harper! It just happened! We were both so lonely, and you... you were always so cold!”
I stepped back, avoiding her touch as if she were covered in plague.
“Don't you dare use that word to describe me,” I said. “I was grieving. I was trying to survive. And you... you saw my pain as an opportunity. You took my husband, you took my money, and you let your own daughter die because you were too selfish to look at your phone.”
“Harper, please,” she whimpered, falling to her knees on the cold tile floor, clutching at the hem of my coat. “I have nothing left. The firm fired me. My landlord is evicting me because Evan’s accounts are frozen and we can’t pay the rent. I don't have anywhere to go. Please tell Dad to let me in. I just need my mom.”
I looked down at my sister, kneeling on the floor, begging for the very comfort she had denied her own child.
“You had a daughter who needed her mom,” I said. “And you weren't there. Now, you don't have a mother either.”
I looked at the security guard. “Please remove her. She’s trespassing on base/hospital grounds and violating the temporary protective order we filed this morning.”
The guard nodded, stepping forward and grabbing Callie’s arms, pulling her up from the floor.
“No! Harper, please!” she screamed as she was dragged down the hall toward the elevators. “We’re family! You can’t do this to me! Harper!”
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I watched her go, the doors of the elevator closing on her screams.
I took a deep breath, smoothing my coat, and walked through the double doors to see my mother.
