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Carrie was smiling weakly as Ryan came into the room in the hospital’s maternity ward a half-hour later to take her hands in his. He’d been told that she’d had the baby, but he didn’t see it anywhere.
He was just so happy to see that Carrie appeared to be fine.
There were two nurses in the room as he felt the relief wash over him that everything had gone well, even though he’d missed it. One of the nurses smiled at him as she passed, making a comment about better late than never.
Carrie didn’t really appear to be upset that he hadn’t been there, but he knew that she needed him.
She had fragile nerves.
Couldn’t handle stress.
“Joan stood in for you.” She said, smiling up at him from the bed. “I was scared to death, but I’m glad she was here.”
Ryan nodded, the guilt really creeping up on him now as he realized that Joan had upstaged him yet again.
However, she was also nowhere to be found thankfully, because the last thing he wanted was to get into a whole thing during the proudest moment of his life.
“Are you okay, honey?” he asked as he leaned down to kiss Carrie’s trembling lips. “Is the baby okay?”
She looked pale and worn as she lay in the hospital bed that seemed to dwarf her. Her dark hair was limp and stringy from the exertion of having just given birth and her face still had a sheen, but she was beautiful to him nevertheless.
“The baby’s fine, Ryan.” Carrie whispered, “Just beautiful. She looks just like you...”
She?
A girl.
He had a daughter.
Ryan’s face lit up in a smile as that all sunk in and he kissed his wife again, the pride of finally becoming a father wanting to make his heart burst inside his chest.
A nurse came into the room to whisper something to the nurse that was already standing at the foot of the bed with Carrie’s chart.
“Excuse me for a moment.” She said, stepping out into the hall with the other nurse, pulling the door closed behind them.
The two had strange looks on their faces as they talked back and forth and looking at the chart again. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was bad, whatever it was.
“I can’t wait for you to see her.” Carrie gushed as Ryan caressed her hair back from her face, “It all happened so fast...”
She was staring at something over Ryan’s shoulder now, her eyes pooling with fear as she saw more nurses and the doctor arrive now. A moment later a uniformed guard appeared with a second one, who was on his walkie-talkie.
“Ry.....” Carrie began, as tears pooled in her eyes. “Something’s wrong...”
The doctor and two nurses came into the room with one of the guards and Carrie’s eyes widened.
“Carrie.” The doctor began, “The nurse who came to get the baby earlier, do you remember what her name was?”
“Her name?” Carrie stammered, “No. I....she didn’t give me her....where’s my baby?”
A look between the doctor and nurses as the security guards walked just out of sight, on their radios again as the doctor asked her what the nurse looked like. A tall red-headed woman wearing a badge appeared and started speaking to the guards. They moved over to one side, as she gave them instructions and the two men left while the woman remained behind.
“I don’t know. Black hair, young....please. Where’s my baby?” she asked again, as tears began to flow down her cheeks. “What happened to my baby!?”
“We’re getting to the bottom of that. Don’t worry. Sir?” the doctor said, beckoning to Ryan as he followed them out of the room.
Ryan could hear Carrie screaming about the baby as the nurses tried to calm her down. The blood was rushing to his ears as he barely comprehended what they were saying to him.
They had called the police and they were due to arrive at any moment. They were talking about locking down the entire maternity ward, a lot of the new mothers extremely nervous once they got word of what had happened.
But they all had their babies.
He and Carrie didn’t.
“Where the hell’s my daughter?” Ryan demanded, his eyes stark as the doctor looked absolutely terrified. “We need to get the police here to find my daughter!”
At that precise moment, Joan appeared from around a corner with a Styrofoam cup in her hand.
“You!” Ryan bellowed, making the woman stop dead in her tracks as her eyes widened in fear.
“Damn you! You crazy bitch!” he shouted, grabbing Joan by the shoulders and shaking her as the cup splashed to the floor, dark steamy liquid spreading everywhere. “Damn you!”
A slew of guards came on the run at that moment, pulling him off of the weeping Joan as Ryan let out the cry of a madman.
His daughter.
This crazy bitch had done something to his daughter.
Carrie sat up in her bed and cried as Ryan talked to the police officers that had come to the room. The entire hospital was on lockdown while they searched for their baby and the nurse who had come and taken the child away.
“You say you hadn’t seen her before?” the detective, Anson, asked as he jotted something down on a notepad.
“I don’t know. There were so many people in here...” Carrie wept, “I wasn’t even due for another two and half weeks. I wasn’t supposed to be here...”
She let out a moan as Ryan put his arms around her, comforting her as best as he could.
He cut his eyes to the hallway where Joan was being treated for his assault on her.
Ryan was convinced that she had something to do with all of this. He would swear that to his grave and he’d be damned if she was going to get away with it.
***
“Ma’am,” the officer said to Joan, who was staring at Ryan from the hall. “Would you like to press charges against this gentleman for striking you?”
Joan shook her head.
Ryan hated her, she knew that much, but she still couldn’t believe how he’d attacked her.
A wild, maniac as he shook her like a rag doll before they pulled him off of her.
She could taste blood from where he’d slapped her right before the guards had come to her rescue.
He was an asshole.
Plain and simple.
She glared at him as he did the same, keeping a possessive arm around Carrie’s shoulders.
Her best friend looked completely out of it and about to fall apart from the looks of her.
She wanted so badly to go and comfort her, and voiced her concern for Carrie’s well-being.
“It’s probably best if you sit here for a while. At least until we can make sure that you’re okay.” The doctor said, carefully.
But Joan saw right through it. He was trying to keep her away from her friend, and for what? She hadn’t done anything wrong.
They’d just left the café when Carrie’s water broke and she’d panicked. Joan had been calm and had gotten her friend to the hospital as fast as she could.
If it hadn’t been for her, then Carrie wouldn’t have even been able to get to the hospital in time.
Maybe even had that baby in the back of some stupid ambulance instead of the safety of the maternity ward.
Ryan should be grateful.
“Ms. Addams?” The officer called her name as he stepped out into the hall. “Can I ask you a few questions?”
Joan nodded mutely as the officer began firing questions at her about her relationship to Carrie and Ryan Ashby?
“We’re just friends.” Joan replied, calmly “Well, mostly me and Carrie. I barely see Ryan.”
“I see.” Detective Anson said, nodding as he jotted something down on his notepad. “And did you see the nurse that took the baby from Mrs. Ashby?”
“No.” Joan whispered. “I wasn’t in the room but for a minute after they brought the baby in. I wanted to get a cup of coffee and I told Carrie that I’d be right back. She was upset because Ryan wasn’t here for her.”
“And how long ago was that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes? I couldn’t find the cafeteria at first..”
Detective Anson nodded and then gave her a tight smile as he thanked her for her time and went back into Carrie’s room.
Ryan was still glaring at her as the detective spoke quietly to them and then he left.
Joan watched as the guards spoke with Ryan, one of them coming towards her.
“Ma’am?” he said none too gently, “We’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
“But I’m not doing anything....” Joan protested, as the other guard joined them with Ryan pulling up the rear.
“It’s not up to us. The Ashbys have asked that you give them some privacy....” The guard lied, as he saw the woman’s dull eyes fill with tears.
“I want you out of here.” Ryan seethed, as he tried to keep from wringing her neck. “Leave. I don’t want you coming around us anymore.”
“You don’t mean that!” Joan cried, as Ryan jabbed a finger in her direction. “Please......”
“Get her out of here. Leave us alone, Joan.” Ryan said, turning his back and going back into the room.
Joan sobbed as she saw Carrie staring at her from the bed, her brown eyes filled with tears too as she shook her head slightly.
Ryan had turned Carrie against her.
Head hanging low, Joan turned her back on them and stalked to the elevators.
She boldly held Ryan’s stare as he watched the doors slide closed in front of her.
Game on.