Darlene had said there had been some major cutbacks at the hospital, but this was ridiculous! Suppose Cindy was a sick person who needed help? Or suppose she was calling for one of the babies who needed help? What a disaster that would be. Her mind was suddenly besieged with worst-case play-outs.

The clock read 1:45.

All of a sudden, time was moving quickly.

Two experienced nurses supposedly on shift, and there wasn’t a soul in sight.

What to do, what to do?

Give it another five minutes.

And then what would she do?

At two, she tried the front desk again.

No one.

Where was everyone? A baby could be choking or something.

Now she was thinking like Dad.

Dad!

Good old Dad!

She could call him, but she didn’t want to wake up Rina. Nor did she want Rina to know about the lax care at the nursery. Daddy was right. Darlene was weird to leave the babies alone. And Marie was weird, too. But at this moment, she would have given a lot to see either of their faces.

What on earth was going on?

As soon as the clock clicked 2:10, Cindy put her foot tentatively over the yellow line. Walking swiftly, encountering no one in the halls, she went directly to Rina’s room and knocked softly on the door. When no one answered, she opened it and stepped inside.

Dad was sleeping in a cot next to Rina’s hospital bed. She went over and gently shook his shoulders. His arousal was so fast that he startled her. Then she remembered he was used to waking up on a moment’s notice. He was wearing gray sweats and had on tennis shoes that looked as big as boats. His bleary eyes scanned her face. A glance and he knew something was wrong. He put his arm around her shoulder and led her into the hallway.

“What is it?”

“Hannah’s fine, Daddy.”

Decker took a deep swallow and brought his hand to his chest.

“I scared you,” Cindy said. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do—”

“Do about what?”

“There’s no one in the nursery—”

“What?”

“For about forty-five minutes,” Cindy said. “I tried calling the operator and the front desk, but no one ans—”

“Who’s with the babies now, Cindy?”

“No one—”

“Good God!” Decker started jogging. “You left Hannah alone?”

“I’m sorry, but I just didn’t know—”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I didn’t want to wake up Rina—”

“Cindy, for God’s sake, use some common sense! It’s better to call and wake Rina up than to leave Hannah alone—”

“I’m sorry—”

“Jesus!”

“Daddy, you’re going the wrong way.” She tugged on his arm and steered him to the left. “This way.”

Quickly, they ran down the common nursery hallway, nearly bumping into Darlene. The plump nurse looked at them wide-eyed, then started marching toward Nursery J.