Chapter 3 - THE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
“Vanessa, answer me.”
Luca's voice was so quiet that I barely recognized it.
His fiancée stood beside the engagement table, one hand wrapped around her evening purse.
“I called the hospital,” she admitted.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
Patricia was still waiting for my answer.
“Sarah?” she asked gently. “Are you there?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know the woman who called?”
I looked directly at Vanessa.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I know her.”
Luca held out his hand.
“Sarah, may I speak to Patricia?”
I hesitated, then handed him the phone.
He introduced himself and explained that he was helping me get to the hospital.
Whatever Patricia told him made his jaw tighten.
Then he asked one question.
“Is Owen in immediate danger?”
I watched his face.
“Thank you,” he said finally. “We'll be there shortly.”
He returned the phone.
“Sarah, Owen had a breathing episode during a feeding. The doctor is evaluating him, but Patricia says he's stable right now.”
I pressed my hand against my chest.
Stable.
I wanted to believe that word.
I needed to.
Across the table, Vanessa spoke.
“See? The hospital has everything under control.”
Luca turned toward her.
“Don't.”
She blinked.
“Luca—”
“Don't tell this mother how she should feel.”
Vanessa's face flushed.
“I was trying to keep the evening from becoming a disaster.”
“By calling a hospital and pretending you spoke for her?”
“I never pretended to be Sarah.”
“Then what did you say?”
Vanessa looked toward the guests.
“Could we please discuss this privately?”
Luca studied her.
“Sarah didn't get privacy when you humiliated her.”
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Vanessa whispered, “I told the nurse Sarah couldn't be disturbed during her shift.”
I felt sick.
“My baby was having trouble breathing.”
“You didn't know that at the time,” she snapped.
“Neither did you.”
My voice surprised me.
It was louder than I'd intended.
Vanessa stared.
I had never spoken to her that way.
But I couldn't stop.
“You knew he was in intensive care. You knew they might need me.”
Her expression hardened.
“I wasn't trying to hurt your child.”
“Then why did you use my password?”
She looked away.
Luca stepped forward.
“Answer her.”
Vanessa finally admitted she'd seen it in my emergency-contact information.
Earlier that afternoon, she'd insisted on reviewing employee records before assuming more responsibility for the household.
I'd included the hospital password with my emergency instructions because I was frightened something might happen while I was working.
Mrs. Carter had promised to keep that information private.
Vanessa had treated it like something she owned.
Luca turned toward Mrs. Carter.
“Effective immediately, Vanessa has no access to employee information or schedules.”
The older housekeeper nodded.
But she looked troubled.
I was too frightened about Owen to wonder why.
Daniel appeared beside the doorway.
“The car is ready, sir.”
Luca took my empty cooler.
Teresa adjusted the shawl around my shoulders.
“Go to your little boy, sweetheart.”
Then she glanced at her son.
“Luca, make sure she gets there.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
I barely remembered leaving the mansion.
The drive was a blur of streetlights and my own trembling hands.
Luca didn't try to distract me with promises.
He simply drove.
Once, when we stopped at a light, he said, “You can call him Owen when you talk about him, Sarah. You don't have to say 'my baby' as though he's a problem nobody wants to hear about.”
I looked at him.
“He's all I think about.”
“I know.”
At the hospital, Patricia met us outside the NICU.
Her expression was tired but kind.
“Owen is doing better.”
My knees nearly gave way.
She explained that he'd struggled to coordinate his breathing and swallowing during a feeding.
The nurses had intervened immediately.
His oxygen level had recovered, but the doctor wanted to monitor him closely and review his feeding plan.
“The milk you were bringing tonight wasn't the cause,” Patricia added.
I stared at her.
“Really?”
“Really. We have milk safely stored for him. He's being cared for.”
I covered my face.
For the first time that night, I cried from relief.
Patricia waited.
Then she said, “There's something else.”
My stomach tightened again.
“The woman who called said you wouldn't be available for the feeding assessment tomorrow morning.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“She said your employer had scheduled you through the weekend.”
Luca became very still.
Patricia continued.
“We didn't accept that as your instruction. But we wanted to speak directly with you before finalizing tomorrow's teaching appointment.”
I swallowed.
“Do I need to be here?”
“It would be very helpful. You're going to need practice with his feeding plan before he's ready to come home.”
I answered immediately.
“I'll be here.”
Then I remembered my paycheck.
My rent.
The job I'd nearly lost that evening.
Luca noticed my hesitation.
“Sarah, you have the time.”
I looked at him.
“I can't afford another week without wages.”
He frowned.
“Another week?”
“My unpaid leave was already over.”
He studied me.
“Who told you that?”
“Miss Bellini. She said I had to come back.”
Luca shook his head.
“Sarah, when Owen was born, I approved an additional six weeks of paid family leave for you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Mrs. Carter brought me the request. I signed it myself.”
My mouth went dry.
Nobody had told me.
Not Mrs. Carter.
Not Vanessa.
Not anyone.
“I came back because I couldn't pay my bills,” I whispered.
Luca looked stricken.
“You were never supposed to have to make that choice.”
I looked through the NICU window.
Owen was lying beneath his little blanket, one tiny hand resting beside his cheek.
For three weeks, I'd been leaving him every morning because someone had told me the money was gone.
And now Luca was telling me it had been approved all along.
I turned toward him.
“Mr. Moretti, if you approved my leave…”
My voice faltered.
“Then who decided I wasn't allowed to take it?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at my empty blue cooler.
May you like
Then he said something that frightened me more than his anger.
“Sarah, I think Vanessa has been lying to both of us.”
