The Night the Baby Came Too Early
Chapter 13 - The Night the Baby Came Too Early
Three nights later, Claire woke with sharp cramps.
Luke drove her to the hospital while rain streaked across the windshield.
At thirty-four weeks, every minute felt too early.
The doctors stopped the contractions.
The baby remained safe.
Claire would need observation overnight.
Luke sat beside her bed with his boots planted on the linoleum floor and his hands clasped together.
“You should sleep,” Claire said.
“So should you.”
“I’m the one attached to the hospital bed.”
“Good point.”
She smiled weakly.
Around midnight, Claire looked toward the dark window.
“I thought I was going to do this alone.”
Luke turned.
“When?”
“All those months.”
Her voice was quiet.
“I started making plans. I looked at apartments. I calculated what I could afford if you really wanted a divorce.”
Luke’s throat tightened.
“Claire—”
“I need you to hear it.”
He nodded.
She continued.
“I loved you. I still love you. But I was preparing to raise her without you because your mother convinced me that I had already lost you.”
Luke bowed his head.
He could not fix that with one apology.
So he did not try.
“I hear you.”
Claire reached for his hand.
“That’s all I needed tonight.”
At two in the morning, Luke’s phone lit up.
A message from Evelyn.
Is Claire okay?
Luke stared at it.
He had not told his mother they were at the hospital.
He looked at Claire.
“How does she know?”
Claire’s face changed.
Luke checked the hallway.
Then he remembered something that made his stomach turn.
May you like
Evelyn still had access to the family location-sharing account he had set up before deployment.
Even after everything, she was still watching.
