Excerpt of Sufficient Ransom by Sylvia Sarno

"Snuggled against Travis in the hotel bed, Ann checked her
phone again. She had left Richard several messages and
emails urging him to return home early from Hong Kong.
Terrified Kika would make good on her promise to take
Travis, she couldn’t stand the thought of the next days
without her husband. It was nearly midnight and he still
hadn’t responded. She imagined his days and nights were jam-
packed with meetings, as usual.

With Richard’s heavy travel schedule lately, she and Travis
were alone much of the time. It seemed more so since the
whole CPS thing started. Ann knew she had to find a new
school for her son. She had interviewed a few prospective
places, but she wasn’t in any hurry after the disaster of
the last school. She cherished their leisurely meals
together, their playtime, and visiting all their favorite
places, like they used to do when Travis was very small.

Travis had been born four weeks early—small and helpless.
Nothing she had read in the books prepared Ann for the awe
she felt in the presence of this perfect little person whom
she and her husband had created. Terrified something would
happen to him, she didn’t take Travis out of the house for
the first two months of his life. On their inaugural outing,
fearing an accident, she admonished her husband to drive
slowly. When they arrived at their destination, an Italian
restaurant in Del Mar, she had clutched Travis in his car
seat as she ran for the door, afraid the hot sun would burn
his delicate skin.

When the waitress bent down to take a look at Travis,
sleeping in his seat, Ann threw a blanket over him, fearful
germs would somehow reach him. “I’m sorry,” she said to the
startled woman. “I’m a little nervous. You see. It’s his
first time out.” The waitress, a mother herself, understood,
as did the many others whose eager hands Ann had gently
turned away. The world, women especially, love to touch a
baby. As Travis grew, she relaxed more. But that feeling of
vulnerability remained.
"