Chapter 4 - The Tea Lorraine Brought
Hannah regained consciousness six hours later.
Caleb sat beside her, holding one hand while monitors filled the room with soft beeping.
Their son had been delivered by emergency surgery.
Premature, but breathing.
He was in neonatal intensive care.
Hannah’s first question was not about herself.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Caleb’s voice broke.
“He’s alive.”
Tears moved into her hair.
Caleb leaned closer.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“For what?”
“For believing her.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
She already knew.
That hurt more than anger would have.
“What did she give you?” he asked.
Hannah’s breathing changed.
“Tea.”
That morning, Lorraine arrived without warning.
She carried chamomile tea and a small overnight bag.
Caleb had already left for work.
Lorraine said she wanted to apologize for months of tension.
Hannah did not trust her.
But she accepted the tea because Lorraine kept insisting pregnancy stress was making her paranoid.
Within twenty minutes, Hannah became dizzy.
Her abdomen tightened.
She reached for her phone.
Lorraine took it.
“You need rest.”
“I need Caleb.”
“He’s busy.”
“Give me my phone.”
Lorraine smiled.
“He is already beginning to understand what you are.”
Then she showed Hannah the open suitcase.
It had not been open before Lorraine arrived.
Inside were Hannah’s clothes.
Dr. Morgan’s photograph had already been placed on the bed.
Hannah understood.
Lorraine was creating proof of an affair.
“She told me Caleb would walk in and see exactly what she wanted him to see,” Hannah whispered.
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Hannah’s eyes filled.
“She said once the baby was born, you would belong to me forever.”
Caleb looked toward the NICU corridor.
His mother had never accepted losing control of him.
But jealousy alone did not explain the medication.
The staged affair.
The deliberate delay in calling emergency services.
Lorraine had wanted more than separation.
She had wanted Hannah discredited before the baby arrived.
Then Hannah remembered something else.
“She took a document from your suitcase.”
“What document?”
“The insurance papers.”
Caleb stopped breathing.
Two weeks earlier, he had increased his life insurance and updated the beneficiaries.
Hannah and their unborn son would inherit everything.
May you like
Lorraine had been removed.
👉 Lorraine’s plan was not only about breaking the marriage—she had discovered that Hannah’s baby would permanently remove her from Caleb’s fortune.
