Richard held the infant firmly against his chest. Jessica stepped forward, her arms extended with an eager, desperate look in her eyes. “Let me hold him, Richard.”
“No!” Maya screamed.
Maya threw her legs over the edge of the hospital bed, attempting to stand. A blinding tear of pain shot through her abdominal incision, but she ignored it, driven entirely by maternal instinct.
Daniel stepped into her path, blocking her way. “Calm down, Maya! She just wants to hold her nephew!”
“She could have asked permission!”
Richard began walking toward the door, turning his shoulder away from Maya.
“Dad!” Maya’s voice dropped into a register her family had never heard before. “Give me my son right now!”
She reached across Daniel, frantically grabbing for her baby. Richard reacted with sudden, angry irritation, swinging his arm out to push her hands away—and his elbow struck Maya hard across the side of her face.
Everyone in the room went dead silent.
The newborn began to cry softly.
Maya didn’t scream. She didn’t engage in another shouting match.
She reached back toward the headboard, locked her eyes on her father, and pressed the red emergency nurse call button.
Richard’s confident expression shattered instantly. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
Daniel panicked, looking out toward the hallway. “Dad, we need to leave. Now.”
Maya pointed a finger directly at her brother. “Don’t you dare move.”
Daniel turned and sprinted out of the room anyway.
Seconds later, heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor. Richard hurriedly placed the crying infant back into the bassinet just as two registered nurses and two armed hospital security guards burst through the door.