Twins. I was carrying twins.<\/p>\n
The pregnancy was terrifyingly fragile. At twenty weeks, I had a partial placental abruption and bled so heavily that Thomas drove me to the ER thinking I was miscarrying. He held my hand, white as a ghost, while I lay on a gurney and prayed. Patricia visited the next day. She didn\u2019t ask how I was. She handed me a brochure for local adoption agencies\u2014\u201cJust in case, dear\u201d\u2014and when I looked up, I saw Margaret lurking in the hallway, eyes red from crying.<\/p>\n
I called my old court clerk, the only person from my past who kept in touch. \u201cI\u2019m scared,\u201d I whispered. \u201cShe\u2019s going to try something.\u201d My clerk, a sharp woman named Donna, promised to keep her ears open and to be ready to send legal backup if I ever gave the word.<\/p>\n
On February 12th, a thunderstorm lashed the Georgia coast. I was thirty-six weeks pregnant. I woke at 2 AM with a gush of water and a contraction that made me scream. Lily, now ten and terrified of losing another mother, helped Thomas pack the car while I labored in the back seat, my body convulsing with pain. The forty-minute drive through flooded roads felt like a lifetime. At one point, I looked at Lily and saw her clutching my hand, her knuckles white. \u201cPlease don\u2019t die like my real mommy,\u201d she whispered, and my heart cleaved in two.<\/p>\n
I promised her I would stay. And I meant it with every fiber of my being.<\/p>\n
The C-section was chaotic. I lost nearly two liters of blood. The anesthesiologist had to work quickly because my blood pressure dropped dangerously low. But then, at 4:17 AM, Leo cried out, furious and pink, and at 4:19, Luna joined him, a little softer but just as beautiful. They laid both babies on my chest for a brief moment before whisking them away for checks. But they brought them back to me in the recovery suite, and for one golden hour, I was just a mother, inhaling their newborn scent, tracing their tiny fingers, sobbing with joy.<\/p>\n
Thomas took Lily to get breakfast because she was shaking and pale. He promised to be back in thirty minutes. I told him to go. I was safe, I thought. I had my babies. Nothing could touch us.<\/p>\n
Then the door slammed open.<\/p>\n
Patricia stood there in a lavender suit, raincoat dripping, a manila folder in her hand like a judge\u2019s execution order. Her expression was triumphant, almost manic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas isn\u2019t here. Good.\u201d She locked the door.<\/p>\n
My arms instinctively tightened around Leo and Luna. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the folder on the rolling table. The top page read WAIVER OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AND CONSENT FOR ADOPTION in bold black letters. My name was already typed beneath a signature line.<\/p>\n
\u201cSign it, Catherine. You\u2019re too weak to raise twins. You almost died, for heaven\u2019s sake. Give Leo to Margaret. It\u2019s the Christian thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the world tilt. \u201cGet out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face twisted into something ugly. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to tell me to get out. You are nothing. You are a barren, gold-digging nobody who tricked my son. These babies carry Sterling blood, and my daughter deserves one of them. You can keep the girl; we don\u2019t even want her. Just sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached for the nurse call button. Her hand shot out and slapped mine away, then she backhanded me across the face so hard I saw stars.<\/p>\n
The sting was electric. The incision pulled, and I felt a warm trickle of fresh blood. But more than physical pain, it was the utter evil in her eyes that paralyzed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think anyone will believe you?\u201d she hissed, leaning so close I could smell the mint on her breath. \u201cI\u2019ve already told the head nurse that you have postpartum psychosis. I am a respected elder in this community, and you are a woman with no past and no family. Who will they believe?\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she grabbed Leo\u2019s blanket and started pulling. I held on, my arms shaking, screaming for help. But the room was soundproofed\u2014a feature for celebrity patients.<\/p>\n
I remembered the panic button.<\/p>\n
My free hand slithered under the pillow, searching. I found the small plastic device and pressed it with the last of my strength.<\/p>\n
A silent blue light flashed above the door. Patricia didn\u2019t notice. She was too busy trying to wrestle Leo from my arms, and I was screaming now, a raw, primal sound I didn\u2019t know I had.<\/p>\n
Then the door burst open.<\/p>\n
Three security guards flooded in, followed by two nurses and a doctor. Patricia instantly released Leo and staggered backward, clutching her chest, her face morphing into a mask of terror. \u201cThank God! She tried to throw the baby! She\u2019s insane! I was trying to save him!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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