Chapter 3 - The door comes open
The first people through Victoria’s rear gate were two sheriff’s deputies.
The fire department arrived behind them because the dispatcher heard:
Pregnant woman.
Locked heated structure.
Possible labor.
Mrs. Caldwell met them at the side path.
I could hear voices through the broken window.
Then:
“Maya?”
“Yes!”
“Sheriff’s office. Stay away from the door.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“We know.”
“Thirty-eight weeks.”
“We know.”
The padlock resisted bolt cutters for approximately four seconds.
It felt longer.
The door opened.
Cool air hit me.
I was on the floor beside the bench with Victoria’s note pressed beneath one hand.
A firefighter crouched.
“Ma’am, don’t stand yet.”
“I need my phone.”
“Later.”
“My husband left.”
“We’ll handle that later.”
Another contraction started.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Now?”
He looked at his partner.
“How far apart?”
“I don’t know.”
“First baby?”
“Yes.”
He smiled slightly.
“Then let’s not have it in a steam room.”
Good plan.
My core temperature was mildly elevated but not dangerously high by the time paramedics assessed me.
I was dehydrated.
My pulse was fast.
Baby’s heart rate was elevated enough that they wanted obstetric monitoring immediately.
No dramatic collapse.
No CPR.
No emergency delivery on the lawn.
The danger was real without becoming a television catastrophe.
As they moved me toward the ambulance, I kept asking for the paper.
One deputy held it inside a clear evidence sleeve.
“You’ll get a copy.”
“Read it.”
“Ma’am—”
“Please.”
He looked at the page.
Then stopped.
“What?”
May you like
He did not read it aloud.
That frightened me more.
