“Who said she’s planning to harm the baby? Maybe she just took the baby and wants to raise it as her own.”

“No, I don’t believe it.”

“Did Marie ever have any miscarriages?”

“So far as I know, she was never married.”

“She could have had miscarriages without being married.”

Darlene blushed. “I don’t know of any miscarriages, no.”

“Any abortions?”

Again Darlene turned red. “Not that I know of.”

“Did Marie ever lose a child?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“How about a younger sibling?”

“If you’re trying to give her a motivation to steal a baby, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“Then why would she steal a baby?”

“I don’t believe she did.”

“Then where is she, Darlene? And where’s the baby?”

“I don’t know.” Darlene suddenly shivered and hugged herself tightly. “I truly don’t know.”

13

It didn’t matter what she said.

It didn’t matter what he said.

Past is irrelevant. So is the future.

The here and now.

The here and now.

What mattered?

Who cared?

She cared.

That’s how it all started…because she cared.

They didn’t, but she did.

She cared.

She cared.

Flowers took up every available inch of space—either a hospital room or a mortuary. Decker put down his cup of coffee and smelled a bouquet of yellow roses. He pulled a blossom from the arrangement and presented it to Rina. She took it and placed it on her lap. Her eyes were unfocused…far away.

When she’d come into the hospital, there’d been a blush in her cheeks. Now they were pale and bony. Decker sat on the bed, then took her hand and kissed it.

“How’re you feeling?”

Rina took in her husband’s face—suffused with tension and worry. “I just saw the six o’clock morning news. They flashed the baby’s picture on the TV screen.” She looked down. “You know the newborn photo that the hospital takes when the baby is a day old? The blanket in the background was the same blanket they used for Hannah’s picture.”

Decker nodded.

“Oh, Peter! And here I was feeling sorry for myself.” Rina blinked back tears. “I’m such an idiot for not appreciating what I have.”

Decker squeezed her hand. “Rina, you’ve been through an awful ordeal. It’s okay to feel bad. I feel bad for you. And in all honesty, I feel bad for me. I feel like we both got a raw deal.”

“It’s trivial compared to what that poor mother must be going through.”

“Your operation wasn’t trivial, darlin’. But if we’re comparing hells, I’d rather be in our shoes than in Lourdes Rodriguez’s.” Decker saw his Rina’s face do a slow crumple. He drew her into his shoulder, caressing her arm as she cried. “Get it out, honey. Get it all out.”

“I feel so terrible!”