Chapter 3 - The Fever and the Trap
Emily’s knees buckled. I caught her before she hit the floor, her skin burning through the thick fabric of my coat.
“Emily?” I touched her cheek. She was radiating heat.
“I’m just tired, Mark,” she slurred, her eyes rolling back slightly. “I didn't want to leave the apartment... your mom said if I took Leo outside, she’d call the police and say I kidnapped him.”
I didn't waste time packing bags because there was nothing left to pack. I carried Emily down three flights of stairs with Leo strapped to my chest inside my sweater, kicking the exit door open into the freezing Chicago wind.
Twenty minutes later, we were in the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial.
The triage nurses rushed Emily back immediately. Sepsis from an untreated C-section infection, exacerbated by severe dehydration and malnourishment. I sat in a plastic chair in the pediatric wing, feeding Leo a warm bottle of formula a kind nurse had provided.
An hour later, Dr. Aris Thorne, a stern-faced attending physician, walked up to me with a clipboard. He didn't look friendly.
“Mr. Davis,” Dr. Thorne said, his voice clipped. “Your wife’s infection is advanced. We’ve started her on broad-spectrum IV antibiotics.”
“Thank you,” I breathed, the first wave of relief hitting me.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Dr. Thorne interrupted, his eyes dropping to Leo. “I have an active alert on this child’s file. A Diane Davis called the hospital yesterday. She claimed Emily was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis, destroying the apartment, and refusing to feed the baby.”
The walls of the hospital corridor seemed to narrow.
“It’s a lie,” I said, keeping my voice level.
“She filed temporary emergency guardianship paperwork this morning in family court,” Dr. Thorne continued, watching my reaction closely. “She provided photos of an empty, trashed apartment, and text messages from you stating you feared for the child’s safety.”
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If I hadn't come home early, Emily would have died of sepsis in a freezing room, and my mother would have walked into this hospital with legal custody of my son.
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