When I Returned from the Hospital with Our Newborn, My Husband Had Changed the Locks – Twenty Hours Later, He Showed Up, Pounding and Screaming

“Space?” I whispered. “Ray, I just gave birth to our child. This is our house. Open the door.”

More silence. I heard movement, scraping—like something being dragged. The baby started to fuss, that tiny restless squirm before a full cry.

“Ray!” I knocked again, sharper now. “Open the door. What’s going on in there?”

“I can’t,” he said. His voice cracked, just slightly. “Please. Go to Vanessa’s. Just for now.”

My hands began to shake—not from cold, but from a sudden, nauseating fear that I’d walked into a life I didn’t recognize.

“Fine,” I said, forcing the words out. “I’ll go to Vanessa’s. And when I come back, you’d better be ready to explain why you locked your wife and newborn out like strangers.”

He didn’t answer.

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