Chapter 10 - The Desperate Ploy
Three months after Maya was born, I received an unknown phone call.
I normally ignored them, but I was waiting on a call from the pediatrician, so I answered.
“Hello?” I said.
“Sarah, please don't hang up!”
It was Jessica, her voice trembling and frantic.
“Mom is in the hospital,” she cried.
“She collapsed this morning.”
“The doctors think it might be her heart.”
“She keeps asking for you, Sarah.”
“Please, just come to Seattle General.”
My stomach dropped instinctively.
Despite everything they had done, hearing that my mother was dying triggered an old, deeply buried response.
“Is she actually dying, Jessica, or is this another game?” I asked coldly.
“I swear to God, Sarah, it's real,” she sobbed.
“Please.”
She hung up the phone.
I sat on the couch, staring at the wall.
If it was real, and she died, I would have to live with the fact that I didn't say goodbye.
If it was fake, it would be the ultimate proof that they were irredeemable.
I called Aunt Linda and asked her to watch Maya for a few hours.
I was going to the hospital, but I wasn't going to be a fool.
May you like
I called my lawyer and asked what my rights were if this was a setup to corner me.
Armed with knowledge and boundaries, I drove toward Seattle General.
