Time stretched.
Minutes felt like hours.
I sat. I stood. I paced.
And then my phone buzzed again.
Not my mother this time.
Dr. Melissa Crane.
I answered immediately.
“This is Michael Carter.”
“Michael,” a calm but urgent voice said. “I’ve been trying to reach Sarah. Is she with you?”
“She’s in surgery,” I said. “Emergency C-section.”
A sharp inhale on the other end.
“I was afraid of that.”
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “She had test results. My mother took them.”
Another pause.
Then: “Those results showed a complication. A serious one.”
My chest tightened again.
“What kind?”
“Placental instability,” she said. “High risk of abruption. We flagged it as urgent. I told Sarah she needed to be monitored closely. If she experienced pain or fluid leakage, she was to call 911 immediately.”
I closed my eyes.
“She did,” I whispered. “My mother told her not to.”
Silence.
Then, carefully: “Michael… your mother contacted me earlier today.”
My eyes snapped open.
“What?”
“She asked for a copy of the results,” Dr. Crane said. “She claimed she was helping coordinate care.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No,” the doctor agreed quietly. “It doesn’t.”
An hour later, the surgeon came out.
I stood before she even reached me.
“Your wife is stable,” she said.
Air rushed back into my lungs.
“And the baby?”
A small smile.
“A boy. He’s in the NICU, but he’s breathing on his own. That’s a very good sign.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Noah.
