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Close to hyperventilating, I hurry back inside the house and check every room like a madwoman. Calling out Marley’s name at the top of my lungs until my voice is hoarse. Marley and my baby are nowhere to be found.
My mind in a frenzy, I speed-dial Ned. His phone rings, then goes to his voicemail. I leave a message, the words coming out a mile a minute. “Ned, call me as soon as you get this message! It’s urgent!” I end the call and try his office. His secretary, Hilda, picks up on the second ring, yet it feels like an eternity.
“Mr. Sinclair’s office,” she answers, her voice clipped.
“Hilda, it’s me…Ava. I need to speak to Ned right away.” The panic in my voice has multiplied.
“I’m sorry, Ava, he’s in an important outside meeting and asked not to be disturbed under any circumstances.” The tone of her voice is cold and sharp. She guards Ned like a barbed-wire fence. For whatever reason, the matronly, tight-lipped woman has never cared for me.
“But this is urgent!” The frantic words tumble out.
“I’m sorry…maybe I can help you?”
“It’s an emergency! He needs to come home right away.”
“I’ll let him know.” Then, “I have another call coming in. I need to put you on hold…”
I hear her put me on hold. An insipid song from one of IMAGE’s clients filters into my ear until I can’t take it anymore. My hands trembling, my pulse pounding, I hang up.
I have no choice. I need to call the police. My baby’s life is at stake.
My finger quivering, I start to dial 911 when the front door bursts open, almost knocking me flat against the wall.
“Ava, I’m sorry,” comes the apologetic voice of Nurse Marley, as she wheels Isa’s stroller over the threshold and closes the door behind her. She’s wearing her uniform and an oversized navy cardigan sweater. “I didn’t know you were there. Are you okay?”
No, I’m not okay.
“I—I’m fine,” I manage, my heart still racing in my chest.
Marley glances down at my nightgown. “Oh my goodness. You’re bleeding!”
“It’s nothing,” I say, my voice shaky. I don’t want to admit how panicked I’ve been. “I scratched at my incision—it was itchy—and it started to bleed, but I think it’s stopped.” I look down. The scarlet patch of blood is small and hasn’t spread.
“You should let me take a look at it.”
“No, really, it’s fine. I think it’s healing.” With a sharp intake of breath, I regain my composure. Fear and shock give way to an overwhelming sense of relief. My baby is alive and well, sound asleep in her stroller, swathed in her pink cashmere blanket.
My voice grows stronger, anger creeping into it. “Marley, what are you still doing here and where have you been?”
She gazes down at Isa and smiles lovingly. “It was just so hard to leave her with you sound asleep so I took her for a walk outside.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to wake you. You need your rest.”
“Why didn’t you leave me a note?”
“I did. I left it by the coffee maker in the kitchen. I was sure you’d see it when you woke up.”
I swallow back my embarrassment. “Oh… I guess I missed it.”
She pushes the stroller further into the house. She gazes up at me. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look like?—”
Yup, a madwoman. I cut her off. “I totally freaked out…I thought you had kid?—”
With a laugh, she cuts me off, thankfully preventing me from finishing my ridiculous accusation.
“Sweetie, a lot of new mothers are paranoid and think something terrible will happen to their baby. Just know, the chances of your baby being kidnapped in your house are one in three hundred thousand. It’s way more likely for the two of you to be hit by a car.”
