She hurried to explain when she saw disbelief on the woman’s face. “I don’t know who made the switch—it could have been anyone—but it makes sense that whoever it was had access to supplies like the bracelets—mine matches my mom’s. I have them in my baby book and I’ve checked them. They would’ve had to have knowledge of other families, and access to the other babies in the nursery. It’s unlikely they were some random stranger from the street.”
A long moment of silence passed before Dr. Clark nodded. “I hate to think it, but it sounds like you’re right. I can send you to the HR department. If there are any records about personnel from that time period, Nancy will have them.” She took a pad of sticky notes and wrote on the top one, then handed it to Tia. “Her office is on the fourth floor, south wing. You’ll know how to get there,” she said this last to Danny.
“Yes.” Danny shook her hand. “Thanks, I really appreciate it. And I’m sure you understand Tia wants to keep this quiet until she has the answers.”
“Good. This could cause a major stink in the press if it came out.” Dr. Clark straightened, looking weary. “I better get back. We’ve got a full load today. Good luck, and let me know what you learn.”
“Will do,” Danny told her.
They let the doctor return to her duties, and then Danny led Tia back through a twisted maze of corridors, up a bank of elevators, and down some more halls.
“How do you ever find your way around here?” Tia asked as they took a right at another intersection.
“After five years of coming here, you learn where things are. Besides, I studied maps a lot in my spare time when I first started running on the ambulance. Every hospital in the area is different and they can’t always spare someone to walk us to the appropriate location.” He gestured to a door at the end of the hallway. “And here we are.”
Tia took a deep breath as Danny nudged her into the office. There were two desks plus a door leading into another room.
A young man at the front desk looked up as they walked in. “Hello, can I help you?”
Danny stepped up and greeted the man. “Yes, we wondered if Nancy’s available to speak to us for a few minutes.”
The man lifted his brows. “Let me see if she has some time.” He stood and walked into the other room, stopping to speak to the woman in tones too low to understand from the reception area. She looked up, took a second to study Danny and Tia, then nodded and responded.
The man returned and gestured to the door. “She says to send you right in.”
Tia was grateful for Danny’s warm hand on her back as they entered the room. She was also glad when he shut the door behind them, so she didn’t have to worry about eavesdroppers. “Hello, my name is Tia Riverton, and I have a question about your employee records from twenty-eight years ago.” They shook hands and took seats when bidden, then Tia gave the same information to Nancy that she’d given to Dr. Clark.
“We use sophisticated methods to prevent baby switching, in addition to the banding done in the delivery room to prevent this very thing,” Nancy told them.
“Yes, I’m aware of that, and as a parent, I’m very grateful for all of the safety measure you use. However, that hasn’t stopped baby switching from happening, not even in this day and age. Half a dozen or so babies are switched in hospitals every year—and those are the ones we know about. Who knows how many more are happening without being caught.”
Nancy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Where did you get those numbers?”
“They’re available online from reliable sources. With some diligent research, I’ve even tracked down a national online support group for families whose babies have been switched. In almost every case the mom and babies were banded while they were in the delivery room together. Most switches have been total accidents, mine was deliberate. We don’t want to cause trouble for the hospital, I’m not going to go to the news, or sue anyone. I just want some answers.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have records going so far back, so I can’t help you.” Nancy studied them from across her desk, her gaze wary and defensive. “I don’t know how such a thing could have happened. While I’m not admitting that the hospital or its personnel could be involved in something like this, I am sorry you’re struggling with the revelation, however, or wherever it happened. I wish you luck.”
Tia felt her heart sink, though she hadn’t really expected to get answers. “Isn’t there anyone working here who might have been employed in the hospital back then? Maybe they’d remember who else was here.”
Nancy shook her head. “I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”
Disappointed, Tia rose when Danny did and said goodbye. She didn’t think the woman looked very sorry, but it was clearly pointless to push for more. Where would they go from here?
When they reached the privacy of the hallway, Danny took Tia’s hand. “I might know someone who can give us something useful,” he said after a moment.
Hope flared again. “Yeah?”
“It might be nothing, but one of the ladies in the cafeteria has been working foodservice here for twenty-five years. They were celebrating with a cake when I ate there once after we dropped off a patient. We can swing by to see if she’s here, then see what we can get out of her.”
Tia smiled. Right now she had nothing else to go on. She’d take what she could get. “That would be great. Thanks.”
When they reached the cafeteria, Danny said the woman wasn’t around. Tia tried to hide her disappointment, but he must have seen it because he squeezed her hand as they headed back to the entrance. “I’ll keep an eye out for her. She may not have the answers you’re looking for, anyway. This is just one possible avenue.”
“I know. I feel like I keep hitting brick walls.” Discouragement seemed to attack her from every side, lately. Would she ever find the answers?
He grinned and bumped her teasingly with his elbow. “Don’t hit brick walls, they’re bound to hurt you and I don’t want to have to come patch you up.”
“Very funny.” She rolled her eyes at him as they walked out into the bright, if frigid sunlight. All of the questions made her head spin.
The spinning nearly took flight when Danny stopped at her car door, pulling her close for a leisurely kiss before nudging her into her seat and sending her home.
Twenty-five
Tia put her family search on hold after her visit to the hospital. Christmas was that weekend and though there were still a thousand and one things she needed to do, she and the girls took a break and headed to the fire station Wednesday afternoon.
She found Danny kicking back in a chair in the kitchen with a can of soda and a book. “Been slow?” she asked.
He looked up and grinned, opening his arms to accept a hug from Samantha as she threw herself at him. “Hey there, kiddo, how was school today?”
“We watched movies and had a party and exchanged presents and ate lots of junk food. It was fun and I got a Barbie.”
“Very cool! You’ll have to show me next time I’m over.” He looked past Samantha and met Tia’s gaze.
She shrugged. “Nothing new to report.”
“We’ll find another way.” He set Samantha down and crossed the room to Tia, reaching for her. When she shied away, as she always did in front of the kids, he put a hand on her shoulder and held on, then turned to Samantha. “Hey, bug, do you have a problem with me kissing your mom?”
Samantha shook her head and giggled. A grin split her face.
“Good.” He turned back to Tia and quirked his brows. “You heard her.” Then he pulled her into his arms for a jolting, but all-too-brief kiss hello.
Since Samantha cheered at the kiss, Tia kept her few mild protestations to herself. She forgot them when his lips touched her anyway. “Hey, there,” she said when she had a chance to catch her breath. His deep blue eyes mesmerized her.
“Hey, yourself.” He slid his hands down her arms to latch onto her fingers. “I wish I could come over for dinner and a mov
ie tonight, but I’m working through Christmas.”
“Holiday pay?” She wondered how long it would take her to say more than two words at a time.
“That will be nice, but more important, most of the other guys needed Christmas off to be with their kids.” His eyes bore into her soul. “You mentioned you plan to stay in town, so I hoped I could get you to come here for a while, share your family with me.”
She swallowed at the thought of spending the holiday with Danny. She was surprised at how much the image appealed to her. Finding she had her voice back, she gave him the rundown. “My parents are coming for presents and breakfast—which should make thing chaotic and less than merry,” she said this last under her breath so the girls wouldn’t hear, but Danny still could. “Then we’re going to Lee’s mom’s for a late lunch so the girls can play with their cousins and be spoiled by their other grandparents.”
“That leaves the evening open to visit me, doesn’t it?” His voice was just this side of husky, sending a thrill all the way to her toes.
“If you aren’t out rescuing people from car accidents or from heartburn caused by too much Christmas dinner that the patient is sure must be a heart attack.” The second scenario had come straight from his Thanksgiving runs.
“I’d like that.” He looked into her eyes for a long moment and she thought he would kiss her again. Instead he seemed to pull himself back, released her and turned to Samantha. “You should see the new toy we got on the rig. It’s so cool!”
Tia watched him take Samantha’s hand and lead her to the ambulance with only a glance back over his shoulder. She wondered if Samantha was destined to become an EMT the second she reached eighteen. Watching her enthusiasm, Tia smiled at the inevitability.
* * *
Danny stood at the order desk at McDonald’s, Tristi tucked up against him, laughing and babbling while he watched Tia and Laura talk. He’d arranged this meal for everyone to get together, the first of many, he hoped. He wanted to allay Tia’s fears that she stood between him and Laura. Though she claimed it didn’t bother her anymore, he knew on some level it did, and he wanted her to be comfortable with everything. Besides, they were both important to him, and he wanted them to be friends.
He picked up the tray of food he’d ordered for Laura and returned to the play area where they were eating while Samantha climbed through the plastic tunnels. “So, did you miss me?”
“You’re interrupting our conversation,” Laura said. “I was going to tell her about the water weenie incident.”
He rolled his eyes as he set the tray in front of her. He hoped she was kidding. Why did women think they had to discuss every embarrassing choice a guy made as a kid whenever he dated someone new—or was it just Laura who was like that? “Then I’m right on time. There are disadvantages to letting you meet my girlfriend. I’m so happy to have you alive again, your penchant for stirring up old trouble slipped my mind.” He’d gladly put up with her behavior since it meant she was alive to annoy him, but he wasn’t sure enough about Tia’s commitment to their relationship not to worry about her reaction.
Danny picked up a chicken nugget and handed it to Tristi, glad when she grabbed on and started chowing down. “So, did you manage to stop by the school and see your old coworkers?” he asked Laura. He sat across from them and settled the baby on his lap.
“Yeah, it nearly caused a riot—it made me late getting here. Some of the students saw me and came to investigate—everyone wanted to know if the news reports were true. Anyway, it took a lot longer to get away than I expected. They have, of course, filled my position.” Her mouth formed a moue of disappointment before she moved on. “The district doesn’t foresee anything else opening up soon.” She ate some fries and took a sip of diet cola.
“So how’s the process of becoming undead working out?” Danny picked up the nugget Tristi had dropped on the food tray and handed it back to her.
“It’s coming. I almost have the paperwork together. Still, it’ll be after the new year before the court rules that I’m alive. Then I’ll have to contact everyone and send them the appropriate paperwork proving I’m only impersonating myself and not someone else. Sometime next summer I may even have it all straightened out.” She looked at Tia. “It’s been a mess, and bound to get worse. How are things at the station? You’re still cooking for the noon news, I hear.”
“Yeah. It’s going well.” Tia told her about the dishes she planned for upcoming segments. “Danny’s always happy to help me test the recipes.”
Laura laughed. “I bet! He’s always had a bottomless pit. I think it got even worse when he became a firefighter.”
“Hey, I’m a growing boy,” he protested. He noticed how relaxed and easy Tia was with Laura and felt his shoulder drop a little in relief. It was going to be okay, even if he did end up the butt of their jokes.
Turning her gaze back to Tia, Laura nodded toward him. “He’ll probably still be saying that when he’s fifty and has a paunch.”
Danny touched his stomach, offended she’d even suggest he’d ever get paunchy. No way he’d let it happen. “You’re killing me here,” he said when Laura laughed at him.
By the end of the hour all of them sat easily together. Tia seemed reassured, Laura was taken with little Tristi, and Samantha sparkled and shone in the attention slathered on her. Danny thought his world was nearly complete.
* * *
Tia had tried tracking down the doctor listed on her birth certificate—and learned he was dead. She wasn’t having much luck with the nurses and other OB staff from that time, either. “I’m never going to get anywhere with this search if no one will talk to me,” she told Danny as they snuggled in the living room after putting the girls to bed one night.
“Give it some time,” he soothed. “I’ll find the lady in the cafeteria soon, or I’ll find someone else with the information you need.”
“I hope so. I’m starting to think this whole thing’s impossible.” She rubbed her eyes and put her head on his shoulder. He had such nice, broad shoulders.
He slid a hand down her arm, then up again. “It’s taken you twenty-eight years to get to this point. You don’t have to find all the answers overnight.” He caught a lock of her hair in his fingers and began playing with it. “Did I ever mention how much I love you hair? It’s so bouncy, and gorgeous.”
She laughed in surprise. “No, you never mentioned it before. Though I have noticed your strange tendency to play with it.”
“I can’t help myself; it begs to be touched.” He tugged on it, then pressed a finger to the bottom of her chin, tipping her head toward him. “It’s like my fascination with you—I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of it.”
“Those are some pretty serious words, there.” Tia felt warmed and tingly at the thought.
“Yes, they are.” He stopped her next question with a kiss.
Twenty-six
Lights flashed and sirens filled the air as Danny grabbed the Broselow bag and checked to make sure they had a Pediatric Emergency Tape in it. They would be at the accident scene in less than two minutes and the reports coming in had adrenaline rushing through his veins, his mind whirling at top speed. Working on children always made him nervous.
Danny sent up a quick, silent prayer as the ambulance slowed at the scene and as soon as it stopped, he jumped out, trauma bag in one hand, Broselow in the other. “Where’s the kid?” he asked the officer approaching the rig, and when directed, hurried to the place where the little girl lay fifteen feet from the edge of the road. The five-year-old had dark, almond-shaped eyes, and curly black hair. Her face contorted with pain and she whimpered as he knelt beside her.
“Hi, my name is Danny. What’s yours?”
She didn’t answer; just opened terrified eyes and cringed away from him.
“I’m a paramedic. Do you know what that means?” When she shook her head, he explained, then told her what he was doing as he began a full toe-to-head checkup, looking for breaks and ble
eders. By the time he got to her head thirty second later, she had told him her name—Emily—but her face had gone ashen and she kept closing her eyes sleepily.
The icy wind whipped past them and through his heavy winter clothing as he knelt beside her. Someone had thrown an adult-sized coat around her, but Emily still shivered on the cold ground. He was pleased she didn’t seem to have any significant external bleeding, but her femur appeared to be fractured, and she complained of pain in her stomach. Neither was a good sign, and she was going downhill fast.
“Get me a traction splint and a pedi backboard,” he called when one of the firemen from his team came over. Chris waved that he understood and headed back to the rig at a jog.
Danny grabbed a bystander to hold Emily’s head in alignment and put up a prayer of thanks when the C-collar he’d grabbed fit her. All the time he spoke with her, asking her questions, trying to keep her awake. Her pulse dropped so he could barely feel it at her wrist and he rushed to put in an IV and enlisted another bystander to hold the bag of saline.
He helped James splint the broken leg and pull traction to get it back into alignment and relieve the girl’s pain. Finally they were ready to move her to the backboard. A glance at his watch told Danny the whole process hadn’t taken as long as he thought, thank goodness, but with her shock and the cold, speed was the byword. The quicker they reached a trauma center, the better.
He wished her veins had been bigger. She needed more fluid as fast as possible. They loaded the little girl into the ambulance and he started prepping for the second IV. “Start a bolus,” he called to James, “and get me some D-25.” He may have been jumping the gun on the glucose, but when a kid her size started to decompensate, pushing sugar and fluids as fast as possible was imperative.
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