The baby wiggled. He opened one tiny, slate-gray eye, and when Chloe slipped her finger through the access port in the side of the incubator, he wrapped his tiny, warm hand around it. Chloe broke down sobbing, not the ragged, terrified sobs from the hallway, but soft, relieved cries, tears running down her face as she stroked the back of her son’s tiny hand. “He knows you,” Eleanor said, rubbing her daughter’s back. She was crying too, her throat tight with a mix of overwhelming love and white-hot rage. She’d spent two years biting her tongue about Mark, not wanting to be the overbearing mother-in-law who chased her daughter’s husband away. She’d hated him from the first time she met him, when he’d showed up 45 minutes late to their first dinner, spent the whole night complaining about how Chloe “spent too much money” on lattes, and left the $80 bill for Eleanor to pay. But Chloe had loved him. She’d said he was “ambitious,” that he was “going to build a life for them.” Eleanor had let her believe it, even when every instinct screamed that he was a leech. She’d never forgive herself for that.
Maria brought them a stack of forms a few minutes later, plus a warm blanket for Chloe and a tray of soup and Jell-O from the hospital kitchen. “I already changed your emergency contact to your mom,” Maria said, sliding the forms across the little rolling table next to Chloe’s chair. “I called social work, they’re sending someone up in 10 minutes to take your statement about the abuse. We have a domestic violence advocate on staff, she can help you get into a shelter if you need it, or connect you to resources for housing and food assistance.” “She doesn’t need a shelter,” Eleanor said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “She’s coming home with me. But we’re gonna need all the documentation you have for court.”
She dialed Arthur’s number, her thumb hovering over the call button for half a second before she pressed it. Arthur was her older brother, a ruthless family law attorney who’d spent 30 years destroying deadbeat husbands and deadbeat dads for low-income women pro bono. He’d warned her Mark was bad news the day Chloe announced her engagement, had run a background check on him without telling anyone, had even offered to pay for Chloe to get a prenup. Chloe had refused, said Mark would never take anything from her. “Eleanor, I’m in the middle of a custody hearing,” Arthur said when he picked up, his voice low, like he was whispering to her from the courtroom hallway. “This can’t wait?” “Mark locked Chloe out of the house three days ago,” Eleanor said, her voice cold. “She slept in her car in the rain. She went into premature labor this morning. The baby’s in the NICU. Mark was trying to bar her from seeing him unless she signs the house over to him.”
There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line. Eleanor could hear Arthur slamming his briefcase shut. “I’m 45 minutes away,” he said, his voice sharp with rage. “I’m calling my paralegal right now, I’ll have a temporary restraining order, emergency custody papers, and emergency divorce paperwork filed before I even get there. I’m also calling Sarah at the DA’s office, she handles domestic violence cases. This isn’t just civil. That piece of shit almost killed two people. He’s facing felony charges.” “Thank you,” Eleanor said, her voice cracking. “That’s what family’s for,” Arthur said. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
Chloe told the social worker everything while they waited for Arthur, her voice small as she picked at the edge of her hospital gown. She’d found out Mark was cheating on her two weeks prior, when she’d found a receipt for a $600 hotel stay in his jacket pocket, followed by a string of text messages from a woman named Jessica on his phone. She’d confronted him that night, and he’d flown into a rage. He’d changed the passwords on all their shared bank accounts, cut off her access to his health insurance, taken her phone and her car keys. She’d gotten the keys back the next day when he was at “work” — she’d later found out he’d quit his job 6 months prior, had been lying about building a marketing startup while he gambled away her inheritance on crypto.
