Finally, he walked toward me and lowered it enough for me to read.
It was an intake confirmation.
A private psychiatric facility had been contacted about receiving me after I left maternity care.
The paperwork described me as a postpartum patient experiencing severe instability and needing residential observation.
A transport window had already been requested.
Margaret Whitmore was listed as the family contact.
And attached to the packet was a plan stating that my newborn would remain with the paternal family while I underwent evaluation.
I stared at the page.
For one second, the room seemed to tilt.
This was what she had meant when she leaned over my hospital bed and promised I would “go somewhere quiet and get better.”
She hadn’t been threatening to complain about me.
She had built a destination.
“You arranged this before she gave birth?” Ryan asked.
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“She needed help.”
