The Color of Joy

by Julianne MacLean

  Jake regarded Miller with concern. “We have to find her. She’s sick and she’s pregnant, too.”

  Miller and Holmes both glanced at me curiously.

  “Oh, Jake…” I moved to lay my hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry about this. You better come in here and sit down. I have to tell you something.”

  “What is it?” he asked as I led him into the living room.

  “It’s about the baby.”

  I wasn’t surprised when Miller and Holmes followed us. No doubt they wanted to hear this, too.

  Riley

  Chapter Forty-five

  After relaying the latest developments to Lois in the hospital, I hung up the phone and moved into the living room to sit alone for a few minutes. Holly rose from the table, followed me and sat down on the sofa.

  “How did she take the news?” Holly asked.

  All I could do was shrug, because I’d never known my wife to be so guarded and silent. She was always an open book. Today, however, was a different story.

  “She’ll come around,” Holly said. “And you can’t blame yourself, Riley. You were up for days, taking care of your wife during her labor, which was no easy thing. When it was over, you had to sleep. You couldn’t have known this would happen. Besides, it’s the hospital’s fault, not yours.”

  I managed to nod my head. “I just hope Lois sees it that way, eventually.”

  “She will. Be patient. She’s scared right now.”

  “I’m scared, too,” I replied, slouching down on the sofa to rest my head on the back cushions and stare up at the ceiling. “What if they don’t find this woman? Or what if they do, and she’s done something terrible? I’m not sure if Lois would ever be able to get over that, much less forgive me, if something happens to our baby.”

  “She’ll have to,” Holly replied, “because it was no more your fault than it was hers. You’d both been through hell during her delivery. But that doesn’t matter because they’re going to find your baby. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  A movement at the corner of my eye caused me to lift my head. There stood Trudy on the carpet with her thumb in her mouth, her oversized rag doll hugged close to her little body.

  “Hey kiddo.” I rose to my feet and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t sleep?”

  Trudy shook her head and pulled her thumb out of her mouth. She spoke weepily. “The lady woke me up.”

  I felt a sudden eruption of goose bumps over my skin. “What lady? The one with the numbers on her arm?”

  Trudy nodded. “She shook me hard, Daddy. I didn’t like it. It scared me.” Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears.

  I turned to Holly who quickly stood. She approached us and rubbed Trudy’s back in a comforting way. “Did she say anything to you?”

  Trudy rested her cheek on my shoulder. “She made me get out of bed.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “To tell you she’s at the airport.”

  “Who’s at the airport?” I asked insistently, shifting Trudy in my arms to prevent her from falling back to sleep.

  “Try to remember, sweetheart.” Holly rubbed Trudy’s back. “It’s very important. Did she tell you who?”

  Trudy stuck her thumb back in her mouth. “My sister.”

  Immediately, I carried Trudy to the kitchen and passed her to my mother, who was still seated at the table. I squatted down to ask my daughter one more question. “Did she tell you where at the airport? Think hard, Trudy. Please.”

  Trudy shook her head and I knew she had no more information to give. “Take care of the kids,” I said to my mom. “I have to go.”

  “Why?” she asked, her face turning ashen.

  “To get my child. God help us, what if she’s getting on a plane?”

  “What if who’s getting on a plane?” my mother asked with distress as I grabbed my keys off a hook on the wall and ran to the door.

  I was vaguely aware of Josh and Holly hurrying to follow me out.

  Chapter Forty-six

  Inserting my key into the ignition, I waited a brief second or two for Josh and Holly to get into my car and slam their doors, then I sped out of the driveway.

  I passed my phone to Josh who sat in the front beside me. “Call Detective Miller and tell him we’re on our way to the airport. Tell him the kidnapper’s there.”

  While I drove at a fast clip out of our neighborhood, Josh found the number in my recent contacts and dialed it. “Hello? Detective Miller? This is Josh Wallace. I’m Riley James’s brother-in-law. We just received a tip that the kidnapper is at the airport with the baby. We’re on our way there now… Yes, that’s right… No, we don’t have any more information than that. Thanks. We’ll see you there.”

  Josh ended the call. As he reached for his seatbelt, he glanced over his shoulder at Holly, who sat next to the empty baby seat in the back. “Are you buckled in?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  I checked my rearview mirror, then hit the gas, keeping my eyes peeled for oncoming traffic—or cops—as I approached an intersection and drove straight through a red light.

  Chapter Forty-seven

  For once, luck was with me. I didn’t get pulled over. Cops were never overly forgiving when they checked your license and discovered you were an ex-con.

  My tires skidded to a screeching halt at the passenger drop-off zone in front of the airport terminal. The three of us spilled out of the car and pushed through the revolving doors to the departure area…where we stopped dead in our tracks and looked around.

  So many people…

  “Let’s split up.” I reached for my phone. “I’m calling Miller now in case the woman went through security. Look everywhere. Stop anyone with a baby.”

  Moving at a brisk pace while scanning left and right for women with infants, I spoke into the phone. “Pick up, Miller. Pick up.”

  At last he answered my call. “Miller here.”

  “It’s Riley,” I said. “I’m at the airport but I’m worried she’s getting on a plane and might have already gone through security. I can’t get past security to check without buying a ticket, which will take some time. Are you on your way?”

  “We’re just pulling in,” he said. “We’ll take care of this, Riley, and she may not be getting on a plane. I suspect she’s there to meet an arrival.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “How do you know that?”

  “Because I just met her husband. He’s in the military service and came home from Afghanistan tonight for her surgery. He got off a flight from Atlanta an hour ago. And get this…she never told him about her miscarriage.”

  “Thanks.” I ended the call and ran toward the baggage carousels.

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Maybe I was running too fast. Maybe I was distracted. Or maybe my shoelace was untied. I have no explanation for what happened and why it happened when it did. All I know is that I stumbled and fell, as if someone had tripped me. My chin hit the floor, my teeth clacked together and a searing pain reverberated from my jaw to the very top of my skull.

  Rolling to my side, I struggled to get my bearings in a world that was spinning around and around. Suddenly I found myself staring up at three faces—all strangers—crowded around me.

  “Geez, are you okay?” some guy with dreadlocks asked.

  Feeling dazed, I rolled to my stomach, rose up on all fours in a clumsy attempt to get to my feet. There was a metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I spit onto the floor.

  “I don’t think you should get up,” the guy said, concerned.

  “I’m all right.” I rose to my feet and staggered sideways.

  “You’re bleeding,” a young girl said, pointing at my lip.

  I touched it with a finger.

  “Go get him some tissues,” her mother suggested. “There’s a washroom right there.”

  Feeling slightly dizzy, I watched the girl grasp the door lever and jiggle it. She turn
ed around with a blank expression. “It’s locked.”

  “There must be someone in there,” her mother replied as she dug into her purse. “I might have some Kleenex…”

  Then, like some kind of beacon in the night, I heard a baby squeak. All my senses came alive and the dizziness vanished. The whole world went quiet and still. I felt as if I could hear a pin drop on the other side of the airport.

  I stood motionless and listened.

  There.

  Again…

  A small pithy cry, barely audible in the noise of the terminal.

  I ran to the bathroom door and rattled the lever handle. When I couldn’t open it, I began to knock urgently. “Hello? Is anyone in there? Can you open up please? It’s an emergency.”

  No response. I waited a few seconds and heard another squeak. I pressed my ear to the door. “Is there a baby in there?”

  Still no answer. My breathing accelerated and I felt an uncontrollable trembling in all my bones and muscles.

  “Open the door!” I shouted as I began to pound violently with the edge of my fist, squeezed tight as a vise.

  Scarcely conscious of the young girl backing away from me in wide-eyed fear, I rammed my shoulder up against the door, again and again, fighting to force it open. Then I heard it more clearly. The sound of a baby, now crying with all the power in her tiny little lungs.

  I recognized that cry. It was my daughter’s. It was the same cry I’d heard when she came back from the brink of death in the OR.

  Taking a step back, I attempted to kick the door open with my boot. Bang, bang, bang!

  “Buddy relax,” the guy with dreadlocks said, approaching me from behind. “There’s someone in there. I’m sure they’ll be out soon.”

  “Get security!” I shouted at everyone, full of rage. “I need this door open! Now!”

  With terror-filled eyes, the guy took off to find someone to help.

  I continued to ram the side of my body up against the door until I was grabbed by the arms, pulled away and forced to the floor with my hands behind my back. I felt the familiar, soul-crushing sensation of handcuffs clicking around my wrists. “No!” I shouted.

  Lying on my stomach, with my cheek on the cold hard tiles, I watched the scene unfold around me as if it were happening in slow motion.

  Cops were everywhere. Running. Shouting. Telling people to move back. Someone unlocked the door with a key. It swung open. I saw a woman’s legs on the floor. They weren’t moving.

  “It’s Jenn Nichols,” someone said as two cops rushed into the room and knelt down to attend to her.

  I heard my baby crying.

  My stomach muscles clenched tight and I gritted my teeth in desperation, fighting to move but there were two firm knees pressing into my spine.

  Then Holmes, the female detective, emerged from behind the bathroom door holding my baby in her arms.

  Someone freed my hands from the cuffs and set me loose. It was Miller. I scrambled to my feet and for the first time, reached out to hold my child.

  Looking down at my daughter’s face, I was overcome with relief and a joy so profound, the whole world turned into a kaleidoscope of color before my eyes. I sank to my knees and laughed and cried as I bent my head to kiss her soft, warm head.

  Thank you, God. Thank you for saving the life of my child and for bringing her home to us.

  Chapter Forty-nine

  As soon as I was able to collect myself, I looked up and saw Holly running down the escalators, pushing past curious bystanders. She reached the ground floor and sprinted toward me, but a police officer held out his arm to stop her.

  “It’s okay,” I explained. “She’s my sister.”

  He let her pass and she dropped to her knees in front of me. “I can’t believe it. You found her.” She leaned close to look at her. “Is she all right?”

  “I think so,” I replied. “Holmes said she was on the floor in the bathroom, wrapped in a blanket.”

  “And you’re sure it’s your baby?”

  “We’re sure. She’s still wearing the identity bracelet from the hospital and the numbers match the one I’m wearing.” I showed her the band on my wrist.

  Besides that, there was no doubt in my mind that this was my daughter. I felt some sort of extraordinary paternal instinct.

  “Your lip…” Holly said, pointing at it. “You’re going to need stitches.” She looked around. “I wonder if someone has a first aid kit.”

  I awkwardly reached into my pocket for my phone. “I need to call Lois.”

  Letting go of the notion of treating my lip, Holly held out her arms. “I can hold her for you.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to let go of her just yet.” Still on my knees, sitting on my heels, I used my sleeve to wipe the blood from my chin and managed to dial Lois’s number.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hey babe, we found her,” I said without any preliminaries. “She’s all right. I have her here in my arms. She’s fine.”

  “Oh, my God!” Lois immediately burst into tears. “You found her? You really have her?”

  “Yes, and she’s beautiful. I can’t wait for you to see her.”

  “She’s okay?”

  “She’s probably hungry, but she seems fine, yes. I’m bringing her back to the hospital to make sure.”

  Lois said nothing for a moment though I could hear her weeping, so I waited.

  “Where was she?” Lois asked when she stopped crying. “Where did you find her?”

  “We’re at the airport,” I replied. “And Miller was right. It was the woman with the brain tumor who had her.”

  “The one who went missing from the hospital this morning?” Lois asked. “Did they arrest her?”

  A team of paramedics came running by with a stretcher. They hurried to where Jenn Nichols was lying, immobile, on the floor inside the washroom.

  “Not yet,” I replied. “She’s not conscious.” My gut churned with dread. “I’m not even sure if she’s alive. The paramedics just came.”

  “Why is she unconscious? Was there a standoff or something?”

  “No. We have no idea what happened. All we know is that she was locked in a private bathroom when I found them. I’m guessing she might have collapsed in there. She’s supposed to have brain surgery the day after tomorrow.”

  “You’re kidding me,” Lois replied with genuine concern. “But why would she kidnap a baby when she’s about to have brain surgery?”

  I looked down at my daughter and felt another rush of joy. How immensely blessed I was, to be holding her in my arms.

  “I don’t know what the woman’s story is, but Miller suspects she came to the airport to meet her husband who was coming home from Afghanistan tonight. He’s a soldier.”

  I watched the paramedics lift Jenn Nichols onto the stretcher.

  Lois grew quiet. “Wait a minute… You said you found them?”

  “Yes. I sort of got a tip about where they were.”

  “From whom?” Lois asked.

  Finding my balance, I rose to my feet. “It’s a long story. I promise I’ll tell you everything, but first I want to bring our baby to you.”

  The paramedics pushed the stretcher toward the ambulance which was parked outside. “Is she alive?” I asked as they passed by.

  “Yes,” one of them told me but she offered no more than that.

  I followed for a few frantic strides to get a look at the woman’s face beneath the oxygen mask—the woman who had taken my child mere hours after she was born.

  Maybe it was not my finest hour, but I felt no sympathy. My heart began to race with rancor. Part of me wanted to rip the mask off her face and throw it aside, shake this woman senseless. How could you?

  Josh arrived and laid his hand on my shoulder, pulling me from the violence of my imaginings.

  “Thank God, she’s okay,” Josh said. “You did good.”

  I don’t know what happened in the seconds after that. My mind was s
till spinning.

  In due course, we spoke to Miller about returning to the hospital with the baby. Holmes inspected the blood on my face and insisted that she carry my child to Miller’s unmarked police vehicle, in case I passed out or something. I gave my keys to Josh, and Holmes sent an officer with him and Holly to fetch the safety seat in the back of my car.

  Holmes and Miller then escorted all of us to the hospital.

  Along the way, as I sat in the back seat of Miller’s car with my baby girl, I felt distracted the entire time—and full of vengeful rage whenever I looked out the window.

  Chapter Fifty

  Miller called the hospital on our behalf to let them know our baby had been found. I was instructed to take her straight to pediatrics to be checked over and to confirm her identity. Other than being hungry, she was perfectly fine—and she was ours.

  As soon as I walked through the door of Lois’s room, she sat up in bed and covered her face with her hands. Carol was there as well. She stood from her chair.

  “I’m so happy!” Lois cried, holding out her arms.

  I gave our baby to my wife and stood by her side as she wept tears of joy. Vaguely I was aware of my mother-in-law leaving us alone in the room.

  “I was so afraid I’d never even know what she looked like,” Lois cried. “Never hold her in my arms. Never hear the sound of her little voice…” Her watery eyes lifted to meet mine and she pointed at me. “What happened to your lip?”

  “I was in a hurry to find her,” I replied. “I fell at the airport, but it’s fine. I’ll get it looked at.”

  She regarded me with tenderness and concern, and her eyes filled with tears again. “You’re my hero,” she said. “I was such a mess today.”

  Overcome with love for my wife and newborn daughter—and feeling a deep sense of relief that she was safely returned to us—I reached for Lois’s hand and pressed it to my cheek.