Chapter 2 - The Heartbeat
"Noah, don't." Briar's voice stopped me before I could lunge toward my mother.
I turned.
Her face had gone gray. A nurse watched the fetal monitor, jaw tight.
"What's wrong?"
"The baby's heart rate dipped after the impact," the resident said. "We're repositioning her and starting fluids."
I forgot everything except the thin electronic rhythm filling the room.
Briar grabbed my wrist.
"The suitcase," she whispered.
"Forget the suitcase."
"No. That's why she came."
Security pulled Maris toward the hallway.
"This is absurd," she said. "My daughter-in-law is hysterical. She threw that suitcase first."
Colleen stared at her. "I saw what happened."
Maris's eyes narrowed.
Then the fetal monitor steadied.
A nurse exhaled. "There. Better."
My knees almost gave out.
Briar shut her eyes, tears slipping toward her temples.
"He's okay?"
"Right now, yes. But we're keeping you under continuous monitoring."
A police officer arrived with hospital security. Maris immediately straightened her shoulders like she was entering a boardroom.
"My attorney will handle this."
Before they escorted her away, she looked at me.
"That photograph proves nothing."
I held it up.
"It proves you lied about Dad being dead."
Her expression barely moved.
"You have no idea what your wife has dragged you into."
Briar opened her eyes.
"Tell him about North Pines, Maris."
My mother stopped.
The officer touched her elbow. "Ma'am."
She walked out without another word.
I looked at Briar.
"What is North Pines?"
She swallowed through another contraction.
"The place in that file."
"How long have you known?"
"Three weeks."
I stared at her.
"Three weeks?"
"I was trying to prove it before I told you. I thought your mother would call me crazy."
"Why would Dad be there?"
Briar's eyes shifted to the open suitcase.
"Because eleven years ago, your mother didn't lose a husband."
May you like
She tightened her grip on my hand.
"She buried a witness."
