Chapter 9 - Through the Glass
Ethan Carter stood in the hospital hallway, staring through the thick glass of the nursery window.
He had followed the ambulance, but hospital security had completely barred him from the delivery floor.
He had waited in the lobby for six hours, terrified and completely alone.
Finally, a sympathetic nurse had taken pity on him and told him where the nursery was.
He pressed his hands against the cold glass, tears silently falling down his cheeks.
In a small plastic bassinet, wrapped in a blue blanket, was his son.
Leo was sleeping peacefully, his tiny chest rising and falling in a perfect rhythm.
Ethan felt a love so profound it practically tore his heart perfectly in half.
This was his boy, his flesh and blood, the child he had dreamed of for years.
And he was not allowed to touch him.
He heard the soft sound of footsteps approaching from behind him.
Ethan turned and saw Amelia standing there, wearing a hospital gown and a thick robe.
She looked incredibly tired, but there was a fierce, powerful light radiating from her eyes.
She was no longer the frightened woman trapped in the dark elevator.
She was a mother, and she was entirely unbreakable.
Ethan fell to his knees right there in the hallway, completely abandoning his pride.
"Amelia, I am so sorry," Ethan wept loudly, bowing his head toward the floor.
"I will do anything, I will quit my job, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."
Amelia stood perfectly still, looking down at him with zero emotion in her eyes.
"Get up, Ethan," Amelia said, her voice completely flat.
"You are embarrassing yourself, and it is far too late for apologies."
She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
She dropped it directly onto the floor in front of his knees.
Ethan looked down and saw the final divorce decree, perfectly signed in black ink.
"I have been granted primary custody," Amelia stated coldly.
"You will get supervised visitation every other weekend, and you will pay child support."
Ethan looked up at her, his face twisted in absolute agony.
"You cannot take my family away from me," he pleaded weakly.
"I didn't take them away," Amelia corrected him softly.
May you like
"You left them in an elevator."
She turned around and walked back toward her hospital room without ever looking back.
