Chapter 2 - The Story Tyler Told First
At Chandler Regional, nurses took Rachel and Lily through separate doors.
I stood in the hallway wearing Rachel’s sweat on my shirt and a thin line of her blood across my forearm where the broken glass had cut her. Tyler arrived twelve minutes later with Vanessa behind him.
He went straight to the admitting desk.
“My wife has postpartum anxiety,” he said. “She locked herself in the car during an argument.”
I stepped between him and the nurse.
“He had the key.”
Tyler’s eyes moved to me. “You weren’t there when it started.”
“I was there when you watched them bake.”
Vanessa whispered, “Tyler, maybe we should just—”
“Don’t,” he snapped.
A hospital security officer separated us before I could reach him.
Detective Morgan from Chandler police arrived after the paramedics reported possible child endangerment. Tyler repeated his version calmly. Rachel had become irrational. She had taken Lily into the car. She had locked the doors. He had been trying to persuade her to come out.
“Why was her phone outside?” I asked.
He said Rachel had thrown it.
“Why was the diaper bag outside?”
“She wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Why was the key in your hand?”
Tyler’s jaw tightened. “Because I was trying to unlock it.”
Vanessa stared at the floor.
A pediatric resident finally came for me. Lily was responding to fluids and cooling measures. Rachel had heat exhaustion, dehydration, and irritation around her surgical incision from struggling in the back seat.
Then the doctor said something I didn’t understand.
“Lily’s sodium level is higher than we’d expect from today’s exposure alone.”
“How high?”
“High enough that we’re looking at whether she’s been getting enough fluid over several days.”
I thought of Rachel’s unfinished words.
The bottles.
Tyler appeared behind me.
“She breastfeeds,” he said quickly.
The resident checked the chart. “Rachel told the nurse they’ve supplemented with formula since the first week.”
Tyler’s expression changed for only a second.
“We’ve tried a few things,” he said. “Rachel gets confused when she’s tired.”
It was the same phrase he had used with me during the last month of her pregnancy.
Rachel gets confused.
Rachel gets overwhelmed.
Rachel doesn’t remember what the doctor said.
I had believed he was worried.
A nurse stepped into the hallway.
“Rachel’s awake. She asked for her mother.”
Tyler moved toward the door.
The nurse blocked him.
May you like
“She asked for her mother only.”
For the first time that afternoon, Tyler looked afraid.
