Chapter 2 - The Rabbit Camera
The baby’s name was Lucy Grace.
Maya had chosen it three months earlier, when she still believed Derek might become gentle once their daughter arrived.
That was what people told her.
Men change when they hold their baby.
Men soften when they see the hospital bracelet.
Men become fathers in the delivery room.
Maya had wanted to believe that more than anything.
Derek had been charming in the beginning.
He opened doors.
Sent flowers.
Told her she was the safest place he had ever known.
Then he slowly made her world smaller.
He complained when she visited Ray.
He called her friends “dramatic.”
He said her job at the dental office was “just extra money” and convinced her to quit during pregnancy.
He insisted on driving her everywhere.
Then complained that she needed rides.
By the seventh month, Maya had learned to read his moods from the sound of his shoes in the hallway.
By the eighth, she had started sleeping with her phone under the pillow.
By the ninth, she had packed a hospital bag with two sets of documents hidden inside a baby blanket.
Ray had known something was wrong before she said it.
He was not easy to fool.
He had lost most of his hearing during military service and learned to watch what people tried not to say.
Maya smiled with her mouth but not her shoulders.
She laughed late.
She flinched when doors opened quickly.
And when Derek spoke, she looked at him before answering other people.
Ray saw it.
He asked once.
“Kiddo, do you feel safe?”
Maya looked down at her tea.
“I’m fine.”
Ray hated that answer.
Not because it was false.
Because it was trained.
Fine was what frightened people said when truth felt too expensive.
So Ray did something quiet.
For the baby shower, he gave Maya a stuffed rabbit.
Soft gray ears.
Tiny embroidered nose.
Weighted bottom so it would sit upright on a tray or shelf.
Inside was a small Wi-Fi camera with live backup, motion activation, and emergency streaming.
He did not hide the truth from Maya.
He showed her the seam.
Showed her the app.
Showed her how to turn it on.
Then he said, “You never have to use it. But if you do, I’ll see.”
Maya cried then.
Derek came into the room before she could answer, and Ray changed the subject to crib screws.
But Maya kept the rabbit.
Derek hated it.
“Your uncle gives weird gifts,” he said.
Maya held it against her belly.
“It’s for the baby.”
“It’s creepy.”
“It’s a rabbit.”
“It’s Ray.”
That was how Derek said Ray’s name.
Like it was a problem he planned to solve later.
Richard disliked Ray too.
Not openly.
Richard was careful.
He was a retired defense contractor with expensive shoes and a voice that made nurses apologize before knowing why.
He called Ray “intense.”
May you like
“Overinvolved.”
“A bachelor uncle who doesn’t understand marriage.”
