Chapter 2
For one second, I could only stare at her.
Her name was Mia.
I had met her twice during wedding rehearsals, always carrying a tablet, always moving faster than everyone else in the room.
Now her face was pale.
“I came in here to get away from Victoria,” she whispered. “She was screaming at one of my assistants. Then I heard what she did to you.”
Another contraction hit.
I grabbed the marble counter.
Mia rushed toward me.
“Claire?”
“I need to get out.”
“I know.”
She looked at the locked door, then at her phone.
“I recorded her because I knew nobody would believe me if I complained about her again.”
“Call 911.”
“I already am.”
That sentence nearly made me cry.
Outside, Julian’s voice rose.
“Why is the door locked?”
Victoria answered quickly.
“It isn’t.”
The handle moved.
Then stopped.
Silence.
“Mom.”
Julian’s voice changed.
I knew that tone.
He had discovered the truth.
“Open this door.”
“Julian, lower your voice.”
“Open. The. Door.”
“Your sister is having her first dance twenty feet away.”
“My wife is in labor.”
“And she will still be in labor five minutes from now.”
I stared at the door.
Mia stared at me.
Neither of us breathed.
Then Julian shouted something I had never heard him say to his mother before.
“Get out of my way.”
There was a crash.
The music outside stopped.
Not faded.
Stopped.
Suddenly the hallway was filled with voices.
“What happened?”
“Is somebody hurt?”
“Where’s Julian?”
Another contraction tore through me.
I screamed.
This time there was no music to hide it.
The entire hallway went silent.
Then someone gasped.
“Oh my God.”
Julian slammed his shoulder against the door.
Once.
Twice.
On the third hit, the latch split away from the frame.
The door flew open.
He stood there breathing hard, his tie loose, his face filled with terror.
Behind him stood Victoria.
And behind Victoria stood at least twenty wedding guests.
Julian rushed to me.
“Claire.”
“I’m okay.”
I wasn’t.
My legs shook beneath me.
He wrapped one arm around my waist.
“An ambulance is coming.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“This has become completely unnecessary.”
Mia slowly lifted her phone.
“No,” she said. “What you did was unnecessary.”
Victoria froze.
Mia’s hand was trembling, but her voice wasn’t.
“I recorded you locking Claire in here.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Only for a second.
Then the mask returned.
“This woman is an employee,” she said. “She’s probably trying to create drama so she can sell something to the tabloids.”
Mia almost laughed.
“I’m the woman your daughter trusted to organize this entire wedding.”
“And you’re fired.”
A voice came from the hallway.
“No, she isn’t.”
Seraphina stood there in her wedding gown.
Her husband, Daniel, was beside her.
Hundreds of tiny crystals covered the bodice of her dress.
Her makeup was perfect.
Her expression was not.
She looked from Mia to her mother.
“What happened?”
Victoria moved immediately.
“Sweetheart, Claire went into labor, and everyone panicked. Go back inside. We can handle this.”
Seraphina looked at the broken bathroom door.
Then at me.
Then at the water still visible on the marble floor.
“You locked her in there?”
“I was trying to protect your wedding.”
“You locked a pregnant woman in a bathroom?”
“She was making a scene.”
“I was having a baby,” I said.
Victoria turned toward me sharply.
“I was trying to help you preserve your dignity.”
Julian stood up.
“My wife was screaming for me.”
Victoria’s lips tightened.
“Because labor is frightening. You would understand if you had raised children.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Julian went still.
His mother had always known where to strike.
She had spent years reminding him that experience made her right and everyone else childish.
But something inside him had finally snapped.
“You locked my wife away,” he said quietly. “Then you lied to my face.”
Victoria glanced at the guests surrounding us.
“Not here.”
Julian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“That’s exactly what you said to Claire.”
A siren sounded outside.
Guests began moving toward the main entrance.
Victoria reached for Seraphina.
“Please. We can discuss this tomorrow. Your cake cutting is in fifteen minutes.”
Seraphina pulled her arm away.
“My sister-in-law is in labor.”
“And?”
The word slipped out before Victoria could stop herself.
Everyone heard it.
Seraphina’s face fell.
Victoria immediately softened her voice.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
But it was too late.
Paramedics appeared at the end of the hallway.
The moment they saw me, everything moved quickly.
One checked my blood pressure.
Another asked how far apart the contractions were.
“Three minutes,” Mia answered.
The paramedic looked at me.
“How many weeks?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“Any complications?”
“Not until tonight.”
He nodded.
“We’re going.”
Julian climbed onto the ambulance with me.
Before the doors closed, Victoria appeared outside.
“Julian.”
He turned.
She looked smaller now.
Not helpless.
Just shocked that he was leaving.
“Your sister needs you here.”
Julian looked at me.
My hand was wrapped around his.
Then he looked back at his mother.
“My wife needs me more.”
The doors closed.
I should have felt relief.
Instead, another contraction began, stronger than before.
I screamed and squeezed Julian’s hand.
The paramedic watched the monitor.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Julian saw it too.
“What’s wrong?”
The paramedic adjusted the sensor.
The ambulance accelerated.
“Baby’s heart rate dropped.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“Is she okay?”
“It recovered.”
“Recovered?”
“For now.”
Julian kissed my forehead.
“You’re going to be okay.”
But his voice shook.
I looked at him and saw terror in his eyes.
Behind that terror was something else.
Guilt.
He knew his mother had delayed us.
And so did I.
At the hospital, they rushed me directly to labor and delivery.
A doctor examined me.
“You’re seven centimeters.”
Seven.
I stared at her.
“How?”
“Sometimes labor moves quickly after your water breaks.”
Another nurse adjusted the fetal monitor.
The room filled with the rapid sound of our daughter’s heartbeat.
For five minutes, it comforted me.
Then the rhythm slowed.
The doctor looked at the screen.
“Claire, roll onto your left side.”
I obeyed.
Julian went pale.
“What’s happening?”
“The baby is showing signs of distress.”
My mouth went dry.
“Because of the delay?”
The doctor paused.
“We can’t know that yet.”
Which meant maybe.
A nurse placed oxygen near my face.
Another started preparing medication.
Julian stood beside the bed, staring at the monitor like he could force our daughter’s heartbeat back to normal.
Then my phone rang.
He had grabbed my purse before leaving the venue.
The screen showed Seraphina.
Julian looked at me.
“Answer it.”
He did.
Seraphina’s voice came through immediately.
“Is Claire okay?”
“We don’t know yet.”
A pause.
Then, “Is the baby okay?”
“We don’t know.”
I heard Seraphina inhale sharply.
Behind her came shouting.
Victoria.
“You have completely destroyed this wedding!”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Seraphina said, “Mom, stop.”
“This was supposed to be your night!”
“My sister-in-law might be having a medical emergency.”
“And now three hundred people are talking about her instead of you.”
My entire body went still.
Even from miles away, Victoria was still making this about the wedding.
Then Seraphina said something I never expected.
“The wedding is over.”
Victoria stopped shouting.
“What?”
“I sent everyone home.”
“You did what?”
“I sent them home.”
“Seraphina, do you understand how much this night cost?”
“I understand exactly what it cost.”
Her voice broke.
“It almost cost my niece her life.”
The doctor suddenly stepped toward my bed.
“Claire, the heart rate is dropping again.”
The phone slipped from Julian’s hand onto the mattress.
Nurses flooded into the room.
The doctor looked directly at me.
“We need to deliver this baby now.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Do I push?”
“No.”
She pulled down her mask for one second so I could see her face.
“We’re taking you for an emergency C-section.”
Julian grabbed my hand.
I heard Victoria screaming through the forgotten phone.
But the nurses were already rolling my bed toward the operating room.
The ceiling lights rushed above me.
One after another.
I looked at Julian.
“Don’t let them take her away from me.”
His eyes filled.
“I won’t.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
The operating-room doors opened.
A nurse stopped Julian long enough to give him scrubs.
May you like
I disappeared through the doors without him.
And for the first time that night, I was completely alone.
