His Regret Came Too Late

Back in the hospital observation room, I found Owen awake, his little face puckered as he cried. I quickly went to prepare the last of his formula.

But when I returned, I was surprised to see Caleb, who I'd assumed would be tending to Maya.

He silently took the bottle from my hand and began feeding the baby, his expression unreadable.

The tension in the air was suffocating.

I finally broke the silence. "What are you doing here? Not worried about leaving Maya all alone at home?"

He looked startled, his eyes darting away. "I was worried about you and the baby." He hesitated, then continued, "Look, I see her as a little sister, that's all. She needs help. Can you just... not make things difficult for her? For me?"

"You think she sees you as a brother?" I scoffed. "You're delusional."

My retort angered him. His hand jerked, tilting the bottle too far, and Owen immediately choked on the milk, coughing violently.

My face went rigid. I snatched our son from his arms and began soothing him.

Caleb looked remorseful and was about to say something when his phone rang. Perhaps out of frustration, he put it on speaker.

An unfamiliar voice came through. "Hello, are you Ms. Lowe's emergency contact? She was rear-ended, but she's refusing to go to the hospital. She insists on waiting for you to come..."

Before they could finish, Maya’s choked-up voice cut in. "Caleb, I’m so sorry… I felt so terrible about what happened that I went out to get you a coffee to say sorry… But I’m so useless, I can't even do that without getting into an accident…"

The call disconnected.

Caleb tried to call back, but the line was dead. He was in a full-blown panic and turned to leave.

I sneered inwardly. But just as I put our son down, Caleb stormed back in, grabbing my arm.

"Maya's been in an accident, and you're just going to stand there?" he growled. "Get up and help me find her! If you hadn't been hounding her, she wouldn't have stormed out of here in a panic!"

I slapped him hard across the face. "She was clearly going to find you! How dare you try to blame this on me and our son? You blind bastard!"

In the end, I couldn't break free. He dragged me out of the hospital and shoved me into the car.

Before we got in, Caleb threw one last threat at me. "If we can't find Maya, or if anything happens to her, I will prove to a judge that you're an emotionally unstable mother, file for sole custody, and make sure you never see Owen again."