“You need to understand. Pregnancy is not weakness. Pain is not manipulation. When someone hides injuries, there is usually a reason.”
The words stayed with him.
Because he knew exactly what that reason was.
Fear.
That night, after Rachel finally slept, Daniel sat alone in the hospital hallway.
His phone showed seventeen missed calls.
All from Margaret.
The first message said:
You need to calm down.
The second:
Your wife is turning you against your own mother.
The third:
Remember who has always been there for you.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
This one was different.
It was from a number he did not recognize.
Attached was a photograph.
His mother standing in their apartment hallway.
