Erase the Stain

Dr. Evelyn is an obstetrician on duty when she sees her husband Henry's name signed as family on a delivery consent form. He had told her his business trip to Seattle would last half a month. In the corridor, Henry sits peeling an apple for the patient, Maya Croft, a twenty-seven-year-old first-time mother. Evelyn hands him the form and asks him to sign.

Inside the delivery room, Maya calls Henry her husband and wears a ring Evelyn recognizes as her own wedding band, which Henry claimed he lost at the gym. Maya's prenatal records, signed by Henry at every visit, and her address at Emerald Lakes, Building 14, Apartment 1602, reveal that she has been living in Evelyn's apartment, among the jasmine and mint Evelyn once planted.

As Maya labors and speaks of her husband's devotion, Evelyn guides the delivery in silence, the only person in the room who knows the whole truth.