Chapter 1 - THE VOICEMAIL I ALMOST DELETED
I pressed play.
For one second, all I heard was hospital noise.
A cart rolling.
A distant announcement.
Someone crying.
Then Rachel’s mother spoke.
“Nathan, it’s Linda.”
Her voice was shaking.
“Rachel delivered early. The baby is stable, but there were complications. She lost a lot of blood.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Doctors controlled it, but she’s exhausted. Owen is in neonatal observation because his oxygen dropped after delivery.”
I stopped breathing.
Linda continued.
“I don’t know what you and Rachel are anymore. Frankly, I don’t care tonight. But that little boy is yours.”
Then her voice broke.
“And she asked for you before they took her into surgery.”
The message ended.
I stood there frozen.
Claire was already calling the airport.
“I’m canceling the flight.”
“Cancel everything.”
She looked up.
“Zurich too?”
“All of it.”
That sentence should have frightened me.
For six months, Zurich had been the center of every plan I made.
The new office.
The European headquarters.
The penthouse lease.
A board presentation that had consumed more hours than my marriage survived.
Suddenly it felt ridiculous.
We drove through Chicago traffic faster than I thought possible.
At Northwestern Memorial, I stepped into the maternity wing wearing a cashmere coat that cost more than some people’s rent and feeling completely powerless.
Linda saw me first.
She stood from a chair outside Rachel’s room.
Her eyes were red.
“You came.”
“I should have been here.”
“Yes.”
No softness.
No comfort.
Just truth.
I deserved it.
“How is she?”
“Awake.”
“And Owen?”
“Stable.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Can I see him?”
Linda studied me.
“Rachel decides.”
I nodded.
Then the door behind her opened.
A nurse stepped into the hallway.
“Mrs. Cole is asking for Nathan.”
Linda’s expression sharpened.
“She uses her maiden name now.”
The nurse looked embarrassed.
I barely heard them.
I stepped into Rachel’s room.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
Pale.
Tired.
Beautiful.
Her eyes moved to me.
Then to the photograph still clutched in my hand.
“You found it.”
“I found it.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Finally I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“Don’t start with sorry.”
I flinched.
She looked back at me.
“Start with why you ignored my message.”
I had no answer that didn’t make me hate myself.
So I told the truth.
“Because I saw your name and chose work.”
Rachel’s face didn’t change.
But something in her eyes did.
“At least that’s honest.”
I stepped closer.
“Can I see him?”
She stared at me for a long time.
Then she nodded.
“His incubator is in neonatal observation.”
My throat closed.
“Why?”
“He stopped breathing for twenty-seven seconds after delivery.”
The room tilted.
Rachel looked away.
“And Nathan…”
I waited.
Her voice became barely audible.
“The doctors found something else.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“They think Owen may have inherited your father’s heart condition.”
