SHE ONLY WANTED TO HELP HER CHILD’S FATHER… UNTIL HER HUSBAND GAVE HER AN ULTIMATUM SHE NEVER EXPECTED. 😳

I called Pascal from Simone’s bedroom.

“Why didn’t you tell me Andre worked at Harrow?”

A long pause followed.

“I found out last month,” he said.

“Were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t think it mattered.”

“He was hurt there last night.”

“I know.”

His answer came too quickly.

“How do you know?”

“My mother called me before I came downstairs. She said an employee had an accident. She didn’t use his name at first.”

“At first?”

“She told me it was Andre when she realized you’d been called.”

I sat on the edge of the bed.

“You knew before you gave me that ultimatum.”

“I knew he’d been taken to the hospital. I didn’t know how badly he was hurt.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“I was angry.”

I closed my eyes. Anger had kept him from asking whether Noah’s father would live. I needed time before I could say anything useful.

“I’m staying with Simone for now,” I said.

“What about Noah?”

“He’s with me. His fever is better.”

Pascal exhaled. “I’d like to see him.”

“When he’s feeling well enough, we can arrange it.”

“Alexa, I love that boy.”

“I know. That’s why I need you to understand what it did to him when you packed his bag.”

“I never meant to send him away.”

“He saw his backpack on the porch.”

Pascal said nothing.

That afternoon, the hospital allowed two short visitors at Andre’s bedside. Leila went in first. I waited until she came out, then stepped through the door.

Andre’s eyes were open.

“Hey,” I said.

He tried to smile. “Noah?”

“He’s safe. His fever’s going down.”

“Good.”

His voice was rough. I pulled up a chair and told him Noah wanted to visit when he was allowed.

Andre looked toward the window. “Tell him I’ll call when I can.”

“I will.”

He turned back to me. His hand shifted across the blanket.

“The platform,” he said.

“You don’t need to explain now.”

“They’ll say I hit the release.”

I leaned closer. “Who will?”

“Harrow. I didn’t touch it.”

He looked exhausted. I told him to rest, but he held my wrist lightly.

“It dropped last week too,” he whispered. “No one got hurt then.”

A nurse came in to check him. I stepped aside. By the time she finished, Andre had fallen asleep.

In the hall, I repeated his words to Leila.

“I’ll ask his supervisor,” she said.

“Wait until he’s stronger. We should write down exactly what he told me.”

Leila nodded.

When I returned to Simone’s, Noah was building a tower of blocks. He stopped as soon as I came in.

“Did Dad talk?”

“A little. He asked about you.”

Noah’s whole face changed. “Really?”

“Really.”

He added one more block to the tower, then knocked it over and began again. I watched him work until my phone rang.

It was Vivian, Pascal’s mother.

“I hear you’ve taken Noah to your sister’s,” she said.

“Temporarily.”

“Pascal is devastated.”

“He packed our bags.”

“He was upset. You left him in the middle of the night to sit with your former husband.”

“Andre is Noah’s father.”

“Of course. But there are boundaries in marriage, Alexa.”

I walked into the kitchen so Noah wouldn’t hear.

“I’d like to know what happened at your warehouse,” I said.

Vivian’s voice cooled. “The safety team is reviewing it.”

“Andre says the platform dropped on its own.”

“I’m sorry he was hurt. I won’t discuss an employee’s account with you over the phone.”

“He said it had failed before.”

A pause.

“If someone had reported a problem, we would have addressed it,” she said.

After the call, I wrote down the conversation. Then I called Leila and told her what Vivian had said.

The next morning, Andre’s condition improved enough for Noah to visit. Leila met us at the hospital entrance with a small stuffed bear she had bought for him to give his father.

Noah held the bear by one paw all the way upstairs.

Andre was pale, but he raised his hand when we entered. Noah went straight to the bed, then stopped, frightened by the machines.

“It’s still me,” Andre told him.

Noah stepped closer. He placed the bear beside his father’s arm.

“I named him Captain,” he said. “He can stay until you come home.”

Andre’s eyes filled.

I turned away to give them a moment.

Outside the room, I found Pascal standing beside the elevators.

“I came to check on Noah,” he said.

I looked back through the glass at Andre and our son.