Page 101 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
Margaret was standing, with Alice in her arms. Talking to her was, besides a nurse, also Alanis.
Of course... Alanis had called her bosses and filled them in on the situation. There was no surprise in that.
After a few brief seconds of Margaret and I staring at each other in silence, I turned my attention back to my daughter when she waved her little arms in my direction as soon as she saw me.
Margaret, however, took a few steps back, making it clear that she would not let her come with me.
“Is she cleared, then?” she asked, looking back at the nurse.
“Yes, ma'am. And she's fine, don't worry. It was just a scare.”
“Thank you very much, dear,” she thanked her and the nurse, excusing herself, left the room.
Alanis followed her, probably realizing that things were going to get tense around here. Camila squeezed my hand tighter, showing that she would stay by my side.
“I believe your watchdog called you to give you the news,” I said.
“I knew it was a mistake to trust my granddaughter to you. The first chance you got to take care of her, look what happened. Yes, Alanis had the decency to do what you didn’t: at least call to tell us what was happening. I came as quickly as I could.”
“And she also had the decency to tell you that everything happened because she didn't wait for us where she said she would?”
“For God's sake, Michael, are you going to blame the poor girl now? It's not her fault that you have enemies willing to use your daughter to get at you.”
“I don't have any enemies, Margaret. You can accuse me of anything... Of being irresponsible, a party animal, reckless, whatever... But I'm not the type to make enemies. Never have been.”
“Oh, no? How would you explain what happened then? Someone kidnapped Alice and it wasn't to ask for any ransom money, it was just to get to you. She was left alone on the filthy floor of a gas station, only God knows what could have happened to her.”
My God, thinking about that made me feel a fear I never imagined I would feel in my entire life. All I wanted at that moment was to be able to hug my daughter, shower her with kisses and make sure she wasn't hurt, then take her home safely with me, promise her that I would never let anyone hurt her again, and... ask for forgiveness.
Because Margaret was right: it was all my fault. I really wasn't someone who created intrigue wherever I went, but who could say that there weren't some people who hated me for anything?
Camila took a step forward, facing Margaret.
“There are several other possibilities for what happened, ma'am. Maybe it was someone trying to scare you out of pure revenge, but what makes you so sure that it was because of Michael and not you and your husband? You're also two very influential people, who's to say that you don't have your share of enemies out there?”
Margaret's eyes seemed to be on fire as she retorted, “First of all, I am talking about this with Michael because, for better or worse, he is the father of my granddaughter, but this matter does not concern you. Still, I will answer you: even if what happened was due to my husband and I's enimies, it certainly would not have happened if Alice were with us. How do I know this? Because she is one year old and has lived with us since she was born, and nothing even close to this has ever happened to her. But she has been with you for two days and look what happened.”
“Camila is my fiancée,” I said. “Whether you like it or not, she will soon be part of Alice's family too. And I will find out who did this to Alice and why, and I assure you, no matter who they are enemies with, I will make sure it doesn't happen again.”
“Oh, that's not going to happen. Because my granddaughter won't spend another day in your care. I'm going home with her. And I highly doubt, Michael, that after what happened today any judge will give you custody of her. If it's up to me and my husband, you'll lose even the rights to supervised visits.”
“You can't do this!” Camila practically screamed, seeming to forget that she was in a hospital. “Michael has a court order to spend the week with Alice.”
“Hehad.” Holding Alice with just one arm, she reached into her shoulder bag with her other hand and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to me. I took it and read it, barely able to believe she had managed todo that in such a short space of time. “Now I am the one who has authorization to take my granddaughter back home with me. And I intend to do so tonight. Unless you two want to go back to the police station to discuss this.”
“You're not taking Alice!” Camila asserted herself again.
I touched her arm, making her look at me.
"Cami, she’s right. We’re not going to solve anything with hot tempers. She has the authorization — fighting against that won’t help at all."
“But, Michael...” she began to speak.
I ran my fingers gently down her arm, trying to show her that everything was okay.
It wasn't okay at all. But at that moment, I just wanted to focus on the fact that my daughter was safe from all the dangers she had been through... It didn't matter at that moment whose fault it was. I just wanted her to be okay.
And nothing would be right if we went back to the police station to start a useless fight. She had the authorization. At that moment, victory was hers.
