“Hospital security,” he announced. “Nobody move.”
Margaret transformed instantly.
Her shoulders collapsed. Her mouth trembled. She pulled Noah against her chest as though shielding him from me.
“Thank God,” she cried. “My daughter-in-law tried to hurt the baby!”
Ruiz looked from Margaret to me.
He saw the bleeding lip.
The reddening mark across my cheek.
The displaced blanket.
My bare leg hanging weakly over the side of the bed.
But he also saw a well-dressed older woman holding a screaming infant and a patient who had activated a psychiatric emergency alarm.
Training took over.
“Ma’am,” he said to me, “place your hands where we can see them.”
I raised them slowly.
“I am six hours post-operative.”
