Page 7 of Fighting His Fate
A cool breeze kissed her skin, the warmth from the child contrasting with the chill. Her eyes popped open. Where was the other baby? She sat up abruptly, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw a tall man in a baseball cap standing beside the sofa, the other baby in his arms. “God, you scared me!” she said, her hand coming to her throat.
“I’m here for the babies.”
“Right.” She came to a stand. “Did they find the next of kin, or are they going into foster care?”
“Foster.”
She sighed heavily, squatting to secure the child in his carrier. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” She took in the swell of the little boy’s cheek, the angelic swoop of his lashes against his creamy white skin. “I’m sure you’re going to find a great place to live, sweetheart,” she whispered, her throat threatening to close. “A real home.”
Please, God, let them be happy.
She stood and turned to the man, holding out her arms for the second infant. “I’ll get him ready for you.”
He handed her the baby, her gaze catching on his wrinkled dress shirt and awkwardly knotted tie. Together with the baseball cap, it made for a strange ensemble. She frowned as she moved to the second carrier. Something about the social worker made her uncomfortable, though she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new?” She threaded Toby’s arm through the straps.
“Yeah, it’s my second week.”
She picked up the carrier and handed it to him, his face completely in shadow. Her stomach clenched as he took the baby. She crossed her arms. “You’ll get the hang of it before long. I doubt it gets any easier, though.”
“Thanks.” He reached for the second carrier.
Her heart was pounding. It felt wrong for this man to take the twins, to just waltz out of this room and completely out of her life. She didn’t even know who he was.
You’re being ridiculous. He’s with social services. This is his job.
Her hand touched her throat as he headed for the door. He didn’t turn around when he issued a curt, “Bye.”
It occurred to her that she’d never seen this man before in her life, that she wouldn’t recognize him if she saw him again, that she hadn’t even gotten his name. Yet here she was, letting him take two children. “Wait. Can I see some ID?”
He stopped walking and straightened to his full height, the movement accentuating their difference in stature. The first stirring of fear fluttered in her belly. “I left it in the car. The nurse has all the paperwork.” He headed for the door.
She stepped forward and put her hand on one of the carriers, halting his exit. “You can just leave them here while you go get it.” To her relief, he let go of the car seat. She set him on the ground and reached for the second boy.
The blow came out of nowhere.
The man’s fist connected with her cheekbone, knocking her backward with the force of it. She stumbled and fell. The man grabbed the baby carrier and was out the door before she regained her footing.
She reached for the phone and made the announcement, “Code kinder! He just left the lounge! Code kinder!” She ran after the man, the bright lights of the hallway and the blow to her head temporarily blinding her. There was chaos in the hallway, people racing to help, and she weaved between them searching for the man. “Two babies in bucket carriers,” she yelled. “About a month old!”
She ran to the nearest exit some hundred yards away, the doorway already blocked by security. Could he have made it out that quickly? She circled back through the ER, frustration and terror mounting. Where the hell had he gone?
Sirens sounded in the distance. Every inch of the hospital was on lockdown, every available staff member and police officer searching for the missing children. Still she combed the halls. It was her fault they were missing, her failure to check a simple ID the reason they were in danger.
How could she be so stupid?
The faint cry of an infant caught her attention. She turned down the corridor that led to Radiology, following the sound she thought she might be imagining. There it was again, slightly louder this time. It had to be real. But was it one of the twins or a different baby altogether? There were plenty of crying babies in the hospital, but still she sped up, jogging as she rounded a corner.
A fire exit stood at the end of the corridor, a dead-end. But this is where she thought the cries had been coming from. She checked every door, finding all but one of them locked, and the open room was just a supply closet. There were no more cries, no intruder, no babies to be found. She pounded on the fire door with frustration.
A man spoke behind her. “Turn around slowly.”
It was him. She knew it was. She thought of everything she had on her—a pen, a name tag with a pin. She held up her hands and turned, aware of the fire extinguisher in a glass case on the wall beside the door, desperate for a way to arm herself against this man.
The door.The alarmed door.
He stood a mere foot away, a surgical scalpel gleaming in the fluorescent overhead lights, one carseat on either side of him. “You’re going to help me get out of here.”
She lifted her chin ever so slightly. “The fuck I am.” She took a big step back, pushing the door open with her backside. A piercing alarm filled the tiled hallway and the man’s eyes went wide. He bent to grab the baby carriers and Grace moved to the doorway, trying to block the exit with her body. He put one of the boys down and hit her repeatedly, but she clung to the opening with a strength she hadn’t known she possessed.
