Chapter 2: What Was in the File
Part 2 ⬇️
I sat down on one of those hard plastic chairs they have outside maternity rooms.
My hands were still red from the cleaning spray.
James sat beside me.
He didn't touch me.
"Her name was Diane," he said.
"She was a nurse here.
We knew each other for about four months, two years ago."
I heard the words.
I couldn't feel them yet.
"The baby," I said.
"She's three days old." He exhaled slowly.
"Diane didn't make it through the delivery.
There's no one else.
No family they can find."
"James—"
"She's mine." His voice cracked on the last word.
"I need you to know I'm not asking you to forgive me tonight.
I'm not asking you to pretend this didn't happen.
But that little girl has no one, and I couldn't leave her here without you knowing."
I stood up.
I walked to the glass.
She was so small.
Dark hair.
One fist curled near her cheek.
I had a name picked out since I was nineteen.
I pressed my hand flat against the glass and I couldn't tell anymore if I was about to scream or about to cry or about to walk straight out of that hospital and never look back.
Then a nurse stepped into the corridor behind us and said, "Mr.
Calloway?
There's something in the patient's file you need to see.
The social worker says it changes the situation."
James went pale.
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What was in that file — and what does it mean for that baby girl?
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What James and the social worker said next left me unable to move.
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