Melissa needed additional care for complications after delivery.
The room filled with professionals giving careful instructions, and no one had time for Charles’s questions about the family announcement.
Vivien stayed near the door, pale and shaking.
She asked the physician whether Melissa was going to recover.
The physician gave information only within the permissions Melissa had established.
Charles made several calls in the hallway.
One was to the family attorney, and another was to his communications director.
Vivien told him to put the phone away.
“A woman is sick because she carried our child,” she said.
“The announcement can wait.”
Charles said there were agreements to honor.
Vivien looked at him as though she had heard a stranger speak.
Joanne arrived during the night and sat beside Melissa’s bed.
Melissa woke briefly and asked whether the baby was safe.
Joanne told her the medical team was caring for the baby.
Then Melissa asked whether Grant knew she had been hospitalized.
Joanne said she had told him only that the children needed coverage.
Melissa nodded and closed her eyes.
For two days, the question of who would pay for additional care remained tangled in administrative calls.
The clinic said some invoices belonged with the intended parents’ policy.
The hospital billing office said it needed written confirmation from the insurer.
Charles’s office asked everyone to avoid discussing financial matters with outsiders.
Melissa heard that instruction and understood that she had become the outsider.
Chapter 22: The Hospital Stairwell
Grant arrived at the hospital after Denise confirmed that the children were asleep and comfortable.
He parked on the fourth level of a garage and took the stairs because the elevator was crowded.
Halfway up, he stopped beside a window overlooking the ambulance entrance.
He remembered bringing Melissa to the hospital when Lily was born.
They had been terrified and joyful, holding hands across every uncertainty.
Now he was returning as a separated husband who did not know whether his presence would help or make things worse.
He called Joanne before entering the ward.
She said Melissa had asked for him and that a patient advocate was available the next morning.
Grant thanked her and asked whether he should bring anything.
Joanne said Melissa needed comfortable clothes and the phone charger she had forgotten.
He went to the hospital shop and bought a charger without choosing the expensive version.
The ordinary purchase steadied him.
At the room, he waited for Melissa to invite him inside.
