Baby B
Chapter 05 - Baby B
The room changed again. Anger, accusation, and betrayal all stepped back as fear rushed in. Grace pressed both hands to her stomach like she could hold the twins closer from the outside.
“Weaker?” Noah asked. “How weak?”
Dr. Reed’s voice stayed calm, but her eyes did not. “Baby A has a strong rhythm. Baby B is present, but the position and heartbeat concern me. I want Grace evaluated today by a maternal-fetal specialist. This may be nothing more than a positioning issue, but we cannot treat it casually.”
Grace looked at Noah. “Is this because I’ve been stressed?”
The question came out smaller than she meant it to. She hated herself for asking it, but every cruel message, every sleepless night, every time Vivian made her feel unwanted had returned at once. She wondered if her babies had felt it too.
Dr. Reed shook her head. “Do not blame yourself. Stress is not a switch that turns a baby’s heartbeat on or off. What matters is that we found this now.”
Noah stepped to the side of the exam table. For the first time in days, he reached for Grace’s hand. She hesitated. That hesitation hurt him; she saw it in his face. But then she let him take it because fear for the twins was bigger than anger at him.
His palm was warm. His fingers trembled.
“I’m here,” he said.
Grace looked at him with red eyes. “You weren’t.”
Noah had no defense. He bowed his head. “I know.”
Vivian’s voice cut through the moment. “This is exactly why we should not turn this room into a courtroom. Grace needs calm. Noah, we can talk at home.”
“No,” Dr. Reed said.
Everyone looked at her.
The doctor removed the ultrasound wand and helped Grace sit up. “Grace should not be pressured into any private conversation right now. She needs medical care, emotional safety, and transportation to the specialist. If anyone in this room is making that harder, they need to leave.”
Vivian’s mouth tightened. “Are you asking me to leave?”
“I am telling you Grace is my patient,” Dr. Reed said. “And her wellbeing is not a family debate.”
Grace felt something inside her loosen. Not heal, not yet, but loosen. Someone had finally said it plainly. She was not a problem to manage. She was a patient, a mother, a woman who deserved safety.
Noah turned to Vivian. “Mom, wait outside.”
Vivian stared at him as if he had slapped her.
Then, slowly, she smiled.
“You will regret choosing panic over family,” she said.
May you like
Noah looked back at Grace and the ultrasound image of two tiny lives.
“No,” he said. “I already regret choosing the wrong person to believe.”
