The day my baby arrived was already overwhelming. Then I received a mysterious note from my husband’s family. It became the key to everything.

Part 1
“So you learn not to drive my son crazy, you’re staying locked in here until you drop the attitude.”

Maya thought her mother-in-law was exaggerating until she heard the sharp, metallic snap of the padlock on the other side of the door.

She was thirty-eight weeks pregnant.

The steam room sat in the backyard of the Vance family property on the outskirts of Denver. Her father-in-law, Arthur, had built it years ago using heavy cedar planks and a small wood-burning stove. He had stoked the fire early that morning before leaving on a trip, and when Maya stepped inside with a bucket and a cleaning rag, the air was already stifling.

“Victoria, I really can’t clean this right now,” Maya had said, holding her lower back in pain. “My doctor strictly told me to avoid heat and physical exertion. I could go into labor any day now.”