My heart began racing.
“There’s something important you weren’t told about your second baby.”
Before I could respond, Judy stepped away.
Then, in a normal voice, she asked Mark whether he could stop by the nurses’ station to complete some paperwork.
Mark nodded.
The moment he left the room, Judy turned back to me.
“Your second son is safe.”
I stared at her.
For several seconds, I couldn’t even speak.
“What?”
“He’s safe,” she repeated. “But some decisions were made about his care while you were unconscious, and I don’t believe you were properly informed.”
My arms tightened around Martin.
“Where is my baby?”
“He’s still inside the hospital.”
Relief and confusion hit me at the same time.
“Then why wouldn’t Mark tell me that?”
Judy hesitated.
“That’s what you need to see.”
She handed me her phone.
There was a short security recording from a consultation room.
I pressed play.
Mark was sitting at a table.
Beside him was his mother, Wendy.
Across from them sat a representative from a private family-placement organization.
Several documents were spread across the table.
Wendy pushed one of them toward Mark.
“Hailey has been through enough,” she said. “You need to make the decision now.”
Mark looked uncertain.
“She’ll want both boys.”
“She needs time to recover,” Wendy replied. “This arrangement can be reconsidered later.”
Then Mark signed.
My stomach dropped.
The document involved temporary guardianship and placement arrangements for my second son.
And my name appeared on the paperwork.
I had never seen it.
Never discussed it.
Never agreed to it.
I stopped the video.
For a moment, the room felt completely silent.
“They made decisions about my son while I was unconscious?”
Judy nodded carefully.
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“The hospital’s compliance team is reviewing everything now.”
“Where is he?”
“In the neonatal wing. He hasn’t left the hospital.”
I closed my eyes.
That was the only sentence I needed to hear.
My baby was still here.
Safe.
But Mark had allowed me to spend two days believing something was terribly wrong instead of simply telling me the truth.
A few minutes later, he returned.
He smiled as if nothing had happened.
“How are my two favorites?”
I looked at him differently now.
“Mark?”
“Yeah?”
“Where is our second son?”
His smile disappeared.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he slowly closed the door behind him.
“Hailey, you need to understand—”
“No.”
My voice stayed calm.
“I need you to answer the question.”
He looked toward the floor.
“My mother thought you wouldn’t be able to care for twins while recovering.”
“That wasn’t her decision.”
“I know.”
“And it wasn’t yours to make without talking to me.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
Mark stepped closer.
“I thought I was helping.”
“You let me wake up without knowing where my own child was.”
He had no answer.
I looked at Martin sleeping peacefully in my arms.
Then I pressed the call button beside my bed.
When Judy entered, I said only one thing.
“I want to see my other son.”
PART 2
