The fluorescent lights of the Dallas General Hospital emergency waiting room hummed softly overhead.
Jason sat on a vinyl chair, his black shirt stained with faint dust from the marble floor, his hands clasped tightly together in front of his face.
The double automatic doors slid open, and an elderly woman in an elegant blue dress stepped quickly into the waiting area, her heels clicking on the tile floor.
Margaret: Jason! Oh my sweet boy, what happened?!
Jason: Mother... you came straight from the airport?
Margaret: The police called my cell phone the moment they put Victoria in the back of the cruiser! Is Chloe okay?! Is the baby alive?!
Jason: The doctors are performing an emergency ultrasound right now. They said there's internal trauma from the fall.
Margaret dropped into the chair beside her son, wrapping her arms tightly around his trembling shoulders.
Margaret: I saw the security footage on my phone, Jason. The police sent it over to the family estate lawyer. I couldn't believe my own eyes...
Jason: She pushed her, Mother. She looked Chloe right in the eyes and shoved her down thirty marble steps.
Margaret: I knew Victoria was bitter about your father's will, but to attack a pregnant woman... she has completely lost her mind.
Jason: She did it for the money, Mother. She knew if Chloe had a boy, the Sterling trust fund would pass directly to my branch of the family.
Margaret: That money ruined her. Ever since her father gave her that open credit line, she thought she was above the law.
Jason: I slapped her, Mother. I lost my temper and I struck my own sister.
Margaret looked at her son, her soft eyes filled with understanding and deep sadness.
Margaret: You were protecting your wife and child, Jason. You did what any husband with a heart would do in that terrible moment.
The heavy doors to the trauma unit swung open, and a doctor in blue scrubs walked out into the waiting room, pulling off his surgical mask.
Dr. Vance: Family of Chloe Sterling?
Jason stood up so fast his chair nearly overturned on the linoleum floor.
Jason: I'm her husband! How is she?! Is our baby okay?!
Dr. Vance: Mr. Sterling, take a breath. Your wife suffered severe bruising across her back and shoulders, along with two fractured ribs from the fall.
Jason: And the baby?! What about our child?!
Dr. Vance: The placenta showed signs of partial detachment from the impact, so we had to perform an emergency C-section to save the infant.
Jason's heart stopped in his chest, his hands shaking violently as he stepped closer to the doctor.
Jason: Is my baby alive, doctor?! Please tell me the truth!
Dr. Vance: You have a baby boy, Mr. Sterling. He weighs four pounds, two ounces. He's small, but his lungs are strong and he is breathing on his own in the NICU right now.
Jason collapsed back into his mother's arms, tears streaming down his face as he let out a choked, joyful sob.
Jason: Thank God... oh thank God!
Margaret: Can we see Chloe, doctor? Is she conscious?
Dr. Vance: She just woke up from the anesthesia in recovery. She's asking for her husband.
Jason wiped his face with his sleeve, moving quickly past the doctor into the hallway toward the recovery wing.
When he opened the door to room 204, Chloe was lying in the hospital bed, her face pale, an IV line hooked to her hand.
Jason: Chloe...
Chloe: Jason... did you see him? Is our little boy okay?
Jason: He's perfect, sweetheart. He's in the nursery breathing on his own. You did it, baby. You saved him.
Chloe smiled through her tears as Jason leaned down, pressing his lips gently against her forehead.
Chloe: What's going to happen to Victoria?
Jason: She's sitting in a county jail cell right now, Chloe. And she is never coming back into our lives again.