in her hand.
I watched the doors close.
Mike stayed in the hallway.
“Do you want the papers preserved with the visitor record?”
I looked at the folder through the doorway.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I will take care of that.”
He walked toward the security desk.
The nurse came back into my room and checked the bassinet.
“Is Leo all right?”
“Yes.”
She looked at Luna and smiled.
“She has decided this is a good time to sleep.”
I glanced at Luna’s hand resting beside her cheek.
“She has better judgment than the adults.”
The nurse smiled.
“That is not a difficult contest today.”
For the first time since Vivian opened the folder, I almost smiled.
Then the nurse’s phone rang.
She stepped into the hall.
“Yes, this is her nurse.”
I could hear only her side of the call.
“Yes, I am still with her.”
She glanced toward me.
“Understood.”
She ended the call and walked quickly toward the security desk.
I could see Mike through the glass panel near the nurses’ station. He was seated with the visitor record open beside his notebook.
The nurse stopped beside him.
“What did you find?”
Mike turned the record toward her.
“The entry time was 12:58 p.m.”
He wrote the time in the margin.
The nurse looked down at the page.
“That matches my note.”
Mike wrote again.
“The approved guest list shows her name.”
“Yes.”
He paused.
“Then at 1:55 p.m., the room requested security.”
The nurse nodded.
Mike added another line.
“And she was still inside after the request.”
The nurse looked toward my room.
“She is not there now.”
“She left the room,” Mike said. “She has not left the hospital.”
The nurse’s face tightened.
“Where is she?”
Mike looked at the access log.
“That is what I am checking.”
He turned the page.
A new entry had just been added.
I could not see the words from my bed, but I saw Mike stop writing.
Then he looked toward the elevator.
“She went downstairs.”
The nurse glanced at me through the glass.
Mike closed the folder.
“Then I need the garage access record too.”
The nurse looked back at him.
“Why the garage?”
Mike picked up his notebook.
“Because Karen is listed there.”
He walked away before either of us could ask what Karen had been told.
The nurse had just reached for the bassinet when Vivian bent over it and lifted Leo against her shoulder.
“Vivian, put him back.”
Vivian adjusted the blanket around Leo and looked at me as if I had asked her to move a chair.
“Elena, he belongs with the Sterling side of the family too.”
“He belongs
here. Put him back.”
She turned slightly toward the door. Leo made a small sound, and I pushed the blanket away from my legs.
“Vivian, now.”
She stopped, but she did not lower him.
“You have been through surgery,” she said. “You are not in a condition to make decisions about the children by yourself.”
I reached for the call button.
“My husband is their father. He is allowed to make decisions with me.”
“He is Daniel’s son.”
The nurse came through the doorway.
“Ma’am, please return the baby to his mother.”
Vivian looked at her.
“This is a family matter.”
“No,” I said. “It is a hospital room. Please take my baby.”
The nurse stepped closer, but Vivian held Leo against her chest.
“I am not taking him away,” Vivian said. “I am taking him where he belongs.”
The nurse looked at me.
“Do you want security?”
“Yes.”
The
word had barely left my mouth when Mike appeared at the doorway.
He looked from the bassinet to Vivian and then to me.
“Judge Vance?”
Vivian turned.
The title landed between us with a weight I had not expected.
Mike stepped inside.
“Ma’am, please give the baby to the nurse. The mother has asked you to leave.”
Vivian stared at him.
“You know her?”
“I know the visitor procedures,” Mike said. “That is what matters here.”
The nurse reached for Leo again.
Vivian finally lowered him, but she kept one hand beneath his back.
“I was told Karen was waiting downstairs.”
“Karen is not taking my son,” I said.
Vivian looked at me.
“She came for him.”
“Did she tell you that?”
Vivian did not answer.
The nurse took Leo and placed him against my chest. I pulled the blanket around him and checked his little face before looking back
