Chapter 11 - THE FALSE INDUCTION
I hadn't scheduled an induction.
That was the terrifying part.
A caller claiming to be me had requested one for the following morning, saying my doctor had approved it.
The hospital caught the discrepancy because of the privacy flag Ben had placed in my chart.
My obstetrician, Dr. Patel, called me personally.
"Rachel, I want you to come in now. Not because of the call. Because your blood pressure has been climbing."
Stress, apparently, has a body count even when nobody throws a punch.
At the clinic, my pressure was 158 over 101.
Dr. Patel sent me to labor and delivery for monitoring.
Olivia stayed beside me.
Maya contacted hospital security.
Mark texted twelve times.
I ignored every message until one appeared that made my blood run cold.
MARK: Mom is missing. Her car is gone. She took the blue folder.
I called him.
"What blue folder?"
"Everything about the hospital. Floor plans. Visitor rules. Copies of your old forms."
"Why does she have floor plans?"
"I don't know."
"Stop saying that! You lived with her plans for months."
He broke down.
"She said after the hearing she'd prove the court wrong."
Security moved me to a private room under an alias.
At 9:20 p.m., a nurse came in smiling too brightly.
"Your mother is here."
"My mother is dead."
The nurse's face changed.
We heard shouting in the hallway.
Then a security radio crackled.
"Female visitor refusing to leave west entrance."
Olivia stood.
"That's her."
But when security checked, the woman at the west entrance wasn't Diane.
It was a stranger holding flowers and asking for my room.
Inside the bouquet was an envelope.
No return address.
Just one sentence typed on white paper:
May you like
YOU CAN'T HIDE A BABY FROM FAMILY.
And beneath it was a photo of me entering the hospital that afternoon.
