Chapter 5 - Nine O'Clock Tomorrow.
Emma did not sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Don standing beside her bed with the paper in his hand.
Noah woke just after midnight.
Grace woke ten minutes later.
The ordinary difficulty of caring for two newborns should have felt overwhelming.
Instead, it gave Emma something real to hold on to.
Elena helped her settle both babies while Arthur sat near the window reading copies of the emergency court filing.
Margaret had obtained the full petition shortly before midnight.
It accused Emma of confusion, emotional instability, and impulsive behavior.
It claimed she had threatened to leave the hospital against medical advice.
It even stated that she had refused to feed one of the twins.
None of it was true.
"They built a story around normal exhaustion," Emma said.
Arthur turned a page.
"And they filed it before the twins were born."
Emma froze.
The petition had been submitted electronically at 10:18 that morning.
Grace and Noah were not born until 1:06 and 1:11 in the afternoon.
Don had prepared to challenge Emma's judgment before he could possibly know how she would recover from delivery.
That detail mattered.
Margaret believed a judge would notice it immediately.
But another problem remained.
Don had attached the notarized consent form dated three months earlier.
If the judge believed that form was genuine, Don could argue that Emma had voluntarily planned for temporary authority to transfer to him.
Emma looked at her father.
"We need the notary."
Margaret had already found her.
Her name was Rebecca Shaw, and she had worked for a corporate services firm used by Hale Medical Group.
She was scheduled to meet them at seven thirty the next morning.
At two fifteen, Arthur's phone rang from an unknown number.
He answered without speaking.
Don's voice came through.
"You should have let her sign."
Arthur stood and moved toward the far side of the room.
"You filed lies about my daughter."
"I filed what the court needed to see."
"Who gave you the medical statements?"
Don laughed quietly.
"You still think I'm the problem."
Arthur's jaw tightened.
"You are standing in the middle of it."
"No," Don replied.
"I'm standing at the edge."
The call ended.
Emma had heard enough to understand one thing.
Don sounded afraid of someone else.
At six forty-five, Margaret called with worse news.
Rebecca Shaw had canceled the meeting.
Her office said she had resigned effective immediately.
Her phone was off.
Her apartment building manager said she had left before dawn with a suitcase.
Emma felt hope drain from the room.
Then Elena entered carrying a small paper cup and a note.
"This was left at the front desk for you," she said to Arthur.
The handwriting belonged to Rebecca Shaw.
Arthur opened it.
The message contained one sentence.
I DID NOT WITNESS EMMA MERCER SIGN ANYTHING.
Below it was an address and a time.
8:15 A.M.
Margaret checked the location.
It was a coffee shop two blocks from the county courthouse.
Arthur looked at the clock.
The hearing was at nine.
They had forty-five minutes to find a missing notary, learn the truth, and get Emma's evidence before a judge.
Then Elena's hospital phone rang.
She answered, listened, and slowly looked toward Emma.
May you like
"Mrs. Mercer," she said.
"Security says your husband is downstairs with a court officer."
