The Message on the Screen

The next morning, Patricia called. Neil declined it.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Later, Dennis texted me.

Can’t wait to meet our girl. How’s Mom doing?

I sent him a photo.

Tired but happy.

Seven hearts came back.

At lunchtime, the nurse said Alicia and I might be discharged the next day.

“Tomorrow?” Neil asked sharply.

“Probably.”

He reached for his phone.

That afternoon, he brought me soup and sat beside me while I nursed Alicia. We argued about whose chin she had.

Then his phone buzzed. He turned it facedown.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

An hour later, he plugged it into the charger beside my bed, this time faceup, and went to shower.

It buzzed again.

Patricia’s name appeared above a message:

Remember our agreement. After tomorrow’s discharge, wait until Marlee is asleep. Then bring Alicia over.

Another followed.

She needs rest. Don’t let her turn this into another argument.

I stared at Alicia sleeping in the bassinet.

I’d said no. What agreement had they made anyway?

That was what frightened me. The message didn’t sound like a suggestion or a grandmother hoping for a visit. It sounded like instructions Neil had agreed to follow. I had been sleeping beside him, feeding Alicia, believing we were learning to be parents together. He was planning something else.

I photographed the messages with my phone. The shower was still running.

I couldn’t confront Neil alone. I wrapped Alicia in her blanket, grabbed my bag, and slipped into the hallway.

The elevator doors closed before he emerged.

I pressed the lobby button. I knew I could call a nurse upstairs, but I needed distance from Neil. There was a staffed desk downstairs where I could ask for help.

When the doors opened, I headed toward it.

Then I stopped.

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Patricia was standing near the exit, staring at her phone. A diaper bag decorated with yellow ducks sat at her feet.

On the ride down, I’d kept my eyes on the floor numbers. Now the sight of Patricia turned my fear into something colder. She looked too comfortable standing there with a bag for a baby who was supposed to be upstairs with me. I tightened my arms around Alicia.