by Natalie Ann
Shocked, Joey and Candy didn’t respond. Joey reached out for Candy, and she went to him, his arm around her shoulders, the baby close to his chest.
Finally, he spoke. “What does this mean?”
“I’m so sorry. We have to take her.”
“So that’s why you brought your partner, correct?” Joey asked. “In case we resisted?”
“No, not at all,” Nanette answered. “And I apologize if it appears that way to you. We never travel alone after dark. It’s a safety concern.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. I can’t believe this is happening. I want to resist, actually.”
“We should get this moving, then,” Candy said, incensed.
It was bad enough that they were returning a helpless infant to a mother who didn’t care about her. But she would be left picking up the pieces Annie’s removal from their home would generate. Joey was not going to get over this anytime soon.
Joey stood against the wall, cradling Annie, and shockingly for Candy, who had never seen him cry, wept with his chin on her head.
“Oh, Joey, I’m so sorry,” Candy said. “Maybe we should call your folks.”
He shook his head in despair. “Just get her stuff out of here, please.”
Candy led Nanette and Frank to the bedroom. “The pack and play is hers, so are most of the clothes and the bottles. We had an impromptu party for her on the day she came home from the hospital. She’ll be going back with a solid wardrobe.”
“Thank you so much, Candy and Joey. You’re so generous.”
They silently packed everything up in trash bags.
“I’ll get her car seat.”
They followed her out to the garage again, and Candy got the seat out of Joey’s truck.
“I’m so sorry,” Nanette whispered.
“Thanks, but that’s not going to help him,” Candy said. “You begged us to take her. We even had one of the nurses harassing us. She came to the house unannounced several times. Now I’m going to have to deal with the upheaval at the hospital.”
There was nothing Nanette could say to it because she was right. It was horrible what they had to do, but her job was to see to the rights of the baby and her mother. Kathy Miller’s blood test was clean, she was getting public assistance so she could care for her baby, and she had a decent one-bedroom apartment in a safe neighborhood. She deserved another chance.
After they got everything into the car, Joey handed Annie over to Candy and left for the safety of his bedroom, thinking erroneously that it wouldn’t be as hard on her to give up the baby.
She held on to the little body as they walked out of the house, trying to stay rational, thinking that soon they’d have their own baby to love.
“It’s so hard to give her up,” she said.
“I’m sorry. You did a good thing for her, look at it that way. You allowed her mother to get on her feet, and now she has a chance to make a home for her baby.”
“Okay, go, go,” Candy said. “We knew this day might come, but frankly, because of the circumstances, we never thought it would happen. She left the baby to die in that house fire. Joey saved her life.”
“We’re so sorry,” Frank said.
They closed the door to the sedan and got in their seats, started the engine, waved, and the car rolled down the driveway. That was that. She was ready to move on with their newlyweds pregnant with their first child status.
Inside, she locked the door, the movement symbolic of not letting anyone come in to hurt them again. Back in the bedroom, her heart broke when she saw him lying on his side with his back to the door.
“Is she gone?” he whispered.
“She is. Nanette actually made sense to me, Joey. Do you want to hear what she said?”
He rolled over on his back and switched the light on. “Go ahead.”
She repeated what they’d said about making it possible for the mother to get on her feet. “We knew there was a possibility this day would come. And we knew it would be difficult.”
“Candy, I know I found her for a reason, and it wasn’t to go back to that meth-head loser.”
“You know, I feel strongly that this might not be over. Let’s take it one day at a time, okay? We have less than three weeks before Christmas. We need to get a tree up, or your mother is going to be here taking over again. Not that I mind.”
“My mother. We need to alert Roberta and the others that the baby went back to her mother.”
“I’ll send a group text. Can I add that we don’t want to talk about it? I don’t want a lot of negativity about her or her mother, because you never know what will happen.”
“Okay, no talking about it. I can live with that.”
He lay back down with his arms under his head. That feeling that they hadn’t heard the end of Annie persisted now that Candy had mentioned it, and it gave him hope.
***
Doing damage control with the family while at the hospital the next day wasn’t ideal, but as long as everyone texted or called her, they were hopefully leaving Joey alone.
Text after text starting out with how awful! Then she’d have to explain again that they were only foster parents, just helping out temporarily. She didn’t fully believe it though. It had been a sleepless night for Joey, but she was exhausted, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.
“We’re taking it one day at a time,” she whispered to Kelly, who was full of compassion for her friend. “Now I have to endure my mother-in-law coming over to decorate my house, or we won’t have a Christmas tree.”
“Is it that important?”
“It is to Joey. His family is rabid about the holidays.”
“Don’t look now, but here comes Sherrie Colecki.”
“Ugh, I wish she’d leave us alone.”
“Hey, Candy, can I talk to you?”
Candy made a big production of looking at her watch and then at the wall clock in the unit. Barely able to be civil, she plastered a big fake smile on her face. “I can take a moment,” she replied, following her to an unoccupied corner. “What’s up?”
“I heard about Baby Jane going back to her mother, and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am. The judge really moved fast on that one.”
“You heard?”
“I spoke to Joey this morning. He told me.”
“Why did you speak to Joey? Sherrie, knock it off, okay? Didn’t we just have this discussion?”
“I wanted to see how the baby was doing. You can’t police his every move.”
“Sherrie, he doesn’t care about you. Sorry if that seems harsh, but that’s what he’s telling me. He doesn’t intend to have an affair with you or betray me with you, so stop wasting your time. Work on saving your own marriage and leave mine alone.”
With obvious wheels turning, Sherrie finally turned away and stamped back to the unit.
“Jesus, what was that all about?” Kelly said, watching the whole thing go down.
“She’s messing with Joey. I already confronted her once and told her to stop. I wonder what it will take.”
“Tell her husband,” Kelly said without hesitation.
“Ha! I don’t have the energy to take that on. I’m mad at Joey for answering her number.”
“Find out why,” Kelly. “She’s probably trying to call him again.”
So she took the advice and sent him a text.
Sherrie tells me she spoke with you today. Please don’t take her calls.
His response: She called on the hospital line you always use. I thought it was you! Come home and I’ll show you who I want.
Staring at the words, Candy finally broke out laughing. “I’m obviously not losing any battles. I think the best thing to do is just let it run its course. Joey’s asking me to come home for sex, so I think we’ll be okay.”
They laughed together. “Let’s get back to work,” Kelly said. “Now I’m wondering what my husband is doing.”
When Candy got home that night, Roberta, Joey and his brother
Leon had decorated the inside and outside of their house. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she pulled up. The decorated Saints’ houses in the neighborhood made it a Christmas wonderland.
“This is amazing! Our houses are really going to attract a lot of attention. Santa won’t have any trouble finding us! Thank you so much.”
“How do you feel?” Roberta whispered. “I’m really worried about Joey, but I’m more worried about you.”
“I’m just focusing on this baby right now. I don’t know what else to do.”
While they had a meal together, Kathy Miller tried to settle in with the baby she’d call Amber. Her friend Taylor had semi-moved in, sleeping on the couch, and between the two of them, they managed to stem the baby’s screams for food, diaper changes, attention; they didn’t know what her problem was.
“I don’t have any experience with little babies,” Taylor said. “Let me call my ma.” She dialed a number and yelled into the phone in her thick Southern accent.
“Jeez, keep it down, will you?”
“Can you give her a little rum in her bottle?”
“Is that safe?”
“My ma says to take some sugar and soak it in a little rum and put it on her binky. They call it a sugar-tit down South. It’ll shut her right up. The sugar’ll pacify her, and the rum will make her sleepy.”
“Okay, let’s try that. Dipping the nipple in rum ain’t gonna hurt her.”
“Dip it in the rum and then sugar and then more sugar. My ma said they used to put the sugar in a piece of cloth and tie it up in a bundle for the baby to suck on.”
“I’d even like that,” Kathy said, laughing.
They prepared the binky and offered it to a screaming Amber. “I don’t know. Maybe a little rum will do the trick. Can you add it to the formula?”
“I guess. Try it that way. Just a little bit though because she might not like the taste.”
“I’ll add sugar to the formula, too,” Kathy said. “I can’t take this noise much more.”
They measured an ounce of rum in the bottom of the bottle, then filled the rum with sugar, then added the formula. She offered the bottle, and Amber greedily sucked it, but when she realized what was in it, she made a terrible face and started to scream even louder.
“Put some sugar on the nipple.”
Taylor caked the nipple with sugar.
“Not that much! You’ll choke her.”
They experimented with sugar and adding honey, even though honey was forbidden; so was rum, so what difference did it make?
When little baby Amber was hungry enough, she drank the mixture but fortunately fell asleep long before she finished it. “Thank god, she finally shut the hell up.”
“Put her in the bed,” Taylor said. “I’m ready for a cigarette.”
“Open that bottle of wine. I’ll be right back.”
Disappearing into the bedroom, Kathy wanted adult beverages and peace and quiet. When she returned, Taylor had the cap off a bottle of white wine, two glasses and an ashtray.
“I wish we could smoke a joint,” she said.
“I have to have mandatory urine tests weekly, so that’s out for me. But they ain’t said nothin’ about drinking.”
After a few cigarettes and the first bottle of wine were finished, the girls were lounging on the couch, laughing and texting with friends. “Time for a couple of guys to stop by.”
“No one’s going to come by here with my drug restrictions,” Kathy said. “Trust me. I don’t want any guys here, anyway. Not with the baby here. I can’t take the chance.”
“Let’s sit outside. You can hear the baby if we keep the door open.”
“I could use some fresh air,” Kathy said, picking up the ashtray and the second bottle. “Grab the glasses.”
There was a small balcony that faced the front of the building. The parking spaces were right there, and since she didn’t have a car, they were wide open. The building was behind the Home Depot, but she could still see the foothills beyond it.
“This isn’t such a bad view. I’ve had worse.”
“Yeah, that fire trap was worse,” Taylor said.
“But it had a great view. I miss the old place.”
“You miss the drugs and the guys.”
“That’s true. We need another bottle.”
“I’ll run out and get one,” Taylor said. “You got any money?”
“Ugh, no, just my WIC checks. Hey, wait! We have rum.”
“We can do shots,” Taylor said. “Unless you got some Coke.”
“There’s a can in there,” she said. “Help yourself. I’m drinking it straight. Don’t want the calories.”
“You’re such a ho.”
Teasing, calling each other names, drunk and relaxed, once they were inside fixing their drinks, they didn’t see Nanette and Frank pull up.
“The door is open and the lights are on. That’s a good sign,” Frank said.
“She’s not going to smoke anything with the door open, that’s for sure.”
“Do you have your urine cup?”
“Right here,” Nanette said. “Let’s go.”
“Look,” Frank whispered, pointing to the box they were using as a table. “Empty wine bottle?”
“She can drink responsibly. That’s not illegal.”
They stood at the door, and Nanette looked in through the screen, at the two women pouring something amber-colored into glasses, another woman adding Coke to one of the glasses.
Watching for a while, they made mental notes of other things they saw: a baby bottle that was half full, dirty dishes piled up. A pizza box on the counter.
“Go ahead,” Frank whispered.
Nanette knocked, and the women froze. “CPS, Kathy. You’re okay. We’re just here for a welfare check and your weekly urine.”
“Since when do you come at night?” Kathy asked, opening the door. She knew from past experience that if she wanted to keep her baby, she needed to be one hundred percent cooperative and compliant.
“Just trying to change it up,” Frank said. “Where’s Amber?”
“Back in the bedroom,” she said.
“Lead the way,” Nanette said, glancing at the kitchen. “She didn’t drink her whole bottle?”
“Not tonight. She was real tired.”
Nanette went to check the number of ounces and smelled it right away and saw the sugar encrusted around the nipple. “Frank, get a picture.”
They documented the bottle, and then she unscrewed the top and smelled it, the powerful alcohol smell wafting back at her.
“This has alcohol in it,” Nanette said to Kathy. “What’s going on?”
“She wouldn’t sleep, and Taylor’s mom said to try a little rum.”
“Well, just on the binky with sugar. It was your idea to add the rum to the bottle.”
Nanette screwed the top back on, and they ran to the bedroom, flipping the light switch on, the smell of baby spit-up and alcohol powerful. She picked Annie up, and although she’d spit up, she was still breathing but somnolent. Even with repeated gentle prodding, Nanette couldn’t get her to wake up while Frank dialed 911.
Chapter Nine
The Christmas celebration at Roberta and Big Mike’s would be wild like it was every year, the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas filled with preparation. The days leading up to it were joyous, peaceful and chaotic all at the same time.
For the first time in years, all the Saints who were employed by the San Diego Fire District would be off work on Christmas Day, which was sure to make it an extra special day.
More importantly, baby Annie was back at home with Candy and Joey. The fluke of Nanette and Frank just happening to do their welfare check that night, Nanette’s instinctive observation of the half-full baby bottle on the counter, and their quick work calling for help had saved Annie’s life.
Annie had been admitted to the ICU, much to Candy’s shock, after she was found unconscious. Sherrie greeted Candy at the door the next mor
ning.
“Before you come in, I need to tell you something.”
“Sherrie, no worries, okay? Let’s just move on.”
“It’s not about Joey,” she whispered. “Annie’s back.”
“What? How, what happened?”
She told her the story, and they both began to weep, holding hands as they entered the nursery and approached the Isolette. The baby was so tiny; in one week she’d lost a significant amount of weight.
“CPS found her in the nick of time. She has aspiration pneumonia after choking on her vomit. But she saved herself from getting alcohol poisoning. The mother had put rum in her formula.”
“She put rum…”
“…in her formula. About an ounce, the lab estimates, in eight ounces of formula. It was full of sugar, too. She only drank a couple of ounces and then must have passed out.”
They hovered over the Isolette. “How am I going to tell Joey?” But then she turned to Sherrie. “Or did you already tell him?”
“No, I swear to you, I did not call him. I’ve been waiting for you to come on the unit.”
“He’s at work.” Candy looked at her watch. “I’ll be right back.”
She walked away, sending him a text. Can you talk? Her phone rang two seconds later.
“You’re never going to believe this, Joey.”
That evening, they were approached by CPS about taking Annie home again. Candy was all for it, but she saw a hesitancy in Joey that took her by surprise. He was at the firehouse, but Candy had called him to do FaceTime.
“I don’t know if I can deal with another farewell,” he said honestly. “That last separation almost killed me.”
“You have a little time to decide,” Nanette said gently. “Now that the mother is out of the picture, the threat that she’ll be removed again is remote. I’m so sorry the judge ever approved reinstating privileges.”
“Joey, this time I think we should do it. I don’t feel the reluctance I did before,” Candy said.
A week after she was discharged into the care of the Saints, the little family picked up their routine in no time. This time, however, there was a marked difference in Annie’s behavior.
“It’s the alcohol withdrawal,” Candy said. “She was born addicted to methamphetamine, but she had long enough in the hospital to withdraw. The alcohol clearly triggered something.”
