Forever My Baby

by Jacquelin Thomas

  “And very married,” Garland stated. “Or didn’t you notice the wedding ring on his finger?” However, she noted that he had not mentioned his wife in their conversation at all. But still Ryker was very good-looking with firm muscles. It was obvious that he spent a lot of time at the gym working out and taking great care of his body. And his aftershave was as delicious as his appearance.

  “I never moved past his face,” Robyn responded with a shake of her head.

  She laughed. “You’re bad.”

  “There’s no harm in looking, Garland.”

  “Well, I make it a habit to never pay attention to married men.”

  “When it comes to a married man, I just look at them every now and then,” Robyn admitted. “I wouldn’t deal with one—that’s for sure.”

  “I know that.” Garland knew Robyn well. She had been with her from the inception of the boutique. She was the assistant manager, and Garland loved working with her and having her on the team.

  “He may be married, but I couldn’t help but notice that he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off you.” Robyn straightened a dress that hung lopsided on a hanger.

  Garland shrugged in nonchalance. “It’s not what you think. He was best friends with my brother. They were college roommates and frat brothers.”

  “Oh, I had no idea.”

  “Parker and Ryker had been inseparable,” Garland said. “He really took it hard when Parker passed away. I never saw him again after the funeral.”

  “So this is the first time you two are reconnecting?”

  “I actually ran into him in Charleston on Wednesday,” she said. “That was almost a week ago.”

  “So what’s up with his mother?” Robyn inquired. “She could barely focus on shopping because she was eyeballing you so hard.”

  Garland shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve ever met her. Parker had known her pretty well from spending a lot of time at their house when we were all in college. She was probably making sure I wasn’t flirting with her married son.”

  Garland decided to change the conversation back to work.

  “I just ordered the cutest little flower girl dresses,” Garland announced. “Wait until you see them, Robyn. The entire collection is stunning.”

  “I’m glad we’re adding more dresses for weddings. They sell very well.”

  “Go on and say it, Robyn. You were right.”

  “I was, wasn’t I?” she responded with a chuckle. “Garland, I appreciate you so much. You actually listen to your employees.”

  “So I will be expecting my world’s greatest boss mug.”

  They both laughed.

  Garland went to her office a few minutes later to go over sales orders. Her smile broadened over the memory of seeing Ryker again.

  But an odd twinge of disappointment interrupted as she reminded herself that he was married with a family.

  Chapter 3

  “The State of South Carolina released the results of an investigation into how the switch took place. The report concluded that the cause of the mishap remains a mystery. No evidence was uncovered to suggest foul play and the medical center has heightened its security in order to prevent another inadvertent baby switch...”

  Garland turned off the television as soon as the story of the nurse’s deathbed confession came on yet again. It was all everyone had been talking about these past weeks. It made her feel uneasy. But she knew that Amya was her daughter, despite being born on September 8 at that same hospital during the time the nurse was believed to have mistakenly switched the babies.

  She sat down on the sofa beside her napping daughter, her thin fingers tensed in her lap. Biting her lip, Garland glanced over at Amya. She refused to believe that the baby switch had anything to do with them. Garland knew without a doubt that Amya was her little girl.

  She caught herself glancing uneasily at the blank television screen, her thoughts dark and disquieting. Garland tried to ignore the warning voice in her head. “I’m thinking too much,” she whispered. “That story has nothing to do with me. Besides, I would’ve heard from the hospital by now if this involved Amya.”

  She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

  Garland leaned over and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I love you so much,” she whispered.

  “Mom...my,” Amya murmured sleepily.

  She rubbed her back. “Go back to sleep, sweetie.”

  The doorbell rang.

  As she opened the door, she said, “Hey, what are you doing here?” to her best friend, Trina, who stood in the doorway. “I thought you were in Arizona visiting your family. C’mon in here.”

  “I flew back this morning, so I thought I’d come by to see my bestie and my goddaughter.”

  “I’m so glad you did,” Garland said. “I really missed you and so did Amya. She is napping in the family room. Let’s talk in here.”

  They settled down in the living room.

  “Have you heard about the hospital situation?” Trina inquired as she picked up one of the small decorative pillows and held it close to her chest.

  Garland nodded. “Can’t help but hear about it. It’s on the news all of the time.”

  “Have you been contacted by anyone from the hospital?” Trina asked.

  “No,” she responded as casually as she could manage. “I don’t expect to be contacted because I know that Amya is my child.” Biting her lip, Garland looked away.

  “Maybe you should have a DNA test completed anyway,” Trina suggested. “This way there will never be any doubt in your mind.”

  Garland awkwardly cleared her throat. “I don’t have any doubt, Trina.”

  Trina eyed her in bewilderment. “How could you not? Any parent who gave birth to a daughter on that day should be worried.”

  Garland stirred uneasily in her chair. “They’re sure it was a girl?”

  Trina nodded. “Yeah. There were six girls born that day within a four-hour period.”

  “I feel sorry for those parents,” Garland said. “I really do, but I don’t need a DNA test to tell me what I already know. I have the child I gave birth to—she is a part of me.”

  “For the record, I believe Amya is yours, as well.”

  “Then let’s change the subject, please.”

  “Sure,” Trina responded hesitantly.

  Garland silently struggled with the uncertainty that had been aroused by their conversation.

  “While I was in Arizona, I reconnected with an old boyfriend.”

  “Really? How did that go?”

  Trina broke into a grin. “It actually went very well.”

  Garland smiled. “Is this the one from college you were telling me about?”

  Her friend nodded. “Yeah. He works for a pharmaceutical company, but get this...he’s been thinking about relocating to Charleston. He has a frat brother in the area who’s offered him a nice position.”

  “Wow...that’s wonderful.”

  “He did mention the guy is single, Garland.”

  She quickly shook her head. “I have no time for men right now. I want to focus on Amya and my shop.”

  “Garland, I know that you’ve been through a lot, but you can’t lock your heart away forever.”

  “I’m not,” she responded. “I just don’t have any more time for lies and games. Maybe in a few years I’ll consider dating again, but right now Amya needs me most.”

  “What do you need, Garland?” Trina inquired. “You can’t live your life just for your daughter or your business.”

  “I’m human, Trina,” she uttered. “Of course, I would like to spend time with someone special. But right now that’s something I can live without. Besides, I have extremely bad taste in men. Remember Noah?”

  Trina burst in
to laughter. “I do.”

  “He was supposed to steal my heart, not my flat-screen TV and my laptop.”

  “Noah had a serious drug addiction.”

  “I had no idea, though.”

  “Well, he did apologize to you,” Trina stated. “That’s more than you got from Calvin.”

  “I had no expectations of Calvin being sorry for anything. He was a dog and he expected me to be okay with it.”

  “He was a screwup for sure.” Trina shook her head. “Hey, I’ve had my share of nightmare relationships, as well.”

  “Our lives have been filled with so much more glamour and romance since we got rid of those deadbeat dates,” Garland said with a chuckle.

  “So far, this guy I’m seeing again is good,” Trina stated. “He’s still on my mandatory trial period, though.”

  Garland shook her head at her friend’s usual antics. “When am I going to meet Mr. Wonderful?”

  “I said he was good. He’s not wonderful yet—if he survives probation, then he might graduate to wonderful.”

  Garland laughed. “He might as well be dating someone of the highest social class in society the way you’re vetting him.”

  “Honey, he is dating royalty,” Trina interjected. “I am a queen.”

  “I hear you,” Garland said.

  “Enough about me. Now I’m serious—it’s time for you to get back into the dating pool. Amya can’t be your whole life, sweetie.”

  “For now, she’s enough,” Garland insisted. “Speaking of your godchild, it’s time we woke her up.”

  * * *

  “Thanks for taking care of Kai for me,” Ryker told Jordin when he arrived home shortly after 6 p.m. “Her teacher was sick and I didn’t want to expose Kai to whatever may be going around. The administrator said it is some type of stomach virus.”

  “It’s my pleasure. You know how much I love that little girl.” She rose to her feet and began putting away a stack of papers.

  He gestured toward her laptop. “Were you able to get any work done?”

  Jordin nodded. “Quite a bit, actually. Kai watched television and played with her toys until lunch. After we ate, I took her to the park. She took a nap as soon as we got back.”

  Her eyes traveled to the television in the family room. A news reporter was going over the dead nurse’s confession.

  “Can you believe that?” Jordin asked. “I just don’t understand why that nurse didn’t come forward sooner, especially if she even suspected she may have switched the babies. This could have been corrected much sooner. It must have haunted her all this time, from what I’m hearing.”

  “I suppose she was worried more about her job,” Ryker responded. “It was selfish for her to keep this secret. She’s not even sure she gave the babies to the wrong parents. It may create upset for no reason at all.”

  “This is true, Ryker, but we have no idea what her life was like,” Jordin pointed out. “Maybe all she had was her work as a nurse. At least she left the hospital and found other work so that she couldn’t make the same mistake again.”

  He shrugged in nonchalance. “It was still wrong.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. I just feel bad for her.”

  Jordin followed Ryker into his office. “Kai was born at that very same hospital on the same day,” she said. “Yet you don’t seem worried about this at all.”

  He met her gaze. “I’m not worried, Jordin. I know that she is my daughter. I’m sure I would know if she wasn’t my child.”

  “Would you really?” She sat down in the plush leather chair across from Ryker.

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “We all love her, Ryker, but wouldn’t you want to know if there’s a chance that you were given the wrong baby? It would mean that your biological child is still out there in the world somewhere.” Jordin studied his face. “You mean, with everything that’s going on, you haven’t considered this possibility at all?”

  “No, I haven’t. Kai is my daughter, Jordin,” Ryker stated in a tone that brooked no argument. “I feel bad for the people involved. If it happened to me, I would sue the hospital for everything it’s worth and I hope they will, too. In fact, I may offer my services pro bono to the parents. This is something awful to have to deal with. I don’t know what I’d do if someone came to me saying that Kai may not be my child.”

  Jordin’s expression was solemn. “I don’t know what we’d do either, quite honestly. But I know we’d find a way if that were ever the case. We’re a strong family. Ryker, we’d figure it out.”

  Jordin then collected her belongings before moving toward the door. “Remember, anytime you need me, I’m a phone call away.”

  Ryker offered her a slight smile and watched from the doorway as she walked to her car, which was parked directly out front.

  After Jordin pulled off, Ryker walked back inside, secured the door, and spent time with his daughter until it was time for her to go to bed.

  Kai now settled and sleeping, Ryker sat down in the family room to watch television. During a commercial, Ryker checked his voice mail messages. Only one in particular caught and held his attention—the one from the hospital.

  Why are they calling me? he wondered. It was probably just to assure him that his daughter was not affected by the current uproar. With that in mind, Ryker did not dwell on the message. He made a mental note to call the chief of staff tomorrow, then filed it away for the rest of the night.

  * * *

  The next day, Ryker scanned through the stack of messages his secretary had handed him when he arrived in the office. His gaze paused on one note in particular—a second message from the hospital. He immediately asked his secretary to hold his calls, then he walked back to his office. He had no idea how long he sat there, trying to figure out what all this could mean. Ryker was so focused on that one note that he did not notice his father’s arrival.

  “Son...”

  He looked up to find his father standing in the doorway. “Is everything okay? You look like you’ve received some troubling news.”

  “I have a message from the chief administrator at the hospital.” Ryker ripped out the words in annoyance. “They left one at the house, too.”

  “What is this about?” Jacques inquired. “Does this have anything to do with my granddaughter?”

  “I don’t know,” he responded, sounding curt. “But I assure you, Kai is my daughter. There were other girls born on that day. This has nothing to do with us.”

  Jacques nodded. “I suppose they could be contacting everyone born on that day.”

  “That’s what I figured,” he said. “I don’t like them involving my daughter in this mess-up.”

  “Go talk to them, son. This way we can get everything straight.”

  Ryker clenched his mouth tighter, his vexation evident. “I’ll give the chief hospital administrator a call. Maybe we can settle this over the phone.”

  Jacques shook his head. “I think you should meet with them face-to-face.”

  Ryker mulled it over before responding. “You might be right. I’m going to set up an appointment with the chief to find out why he’s been trying to reach me. The sooner I get this over with, the better.”

  Chapter 4

  Garland hung up the telephone and then turned to Robyn. “I need to take a quick break. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

  Once Garland sat down at her desk, she picked up the phone with trembling hands and dialed. “Trina, I just got off the phone with someone from the hospital,” Garland said as soon as her friend answered. “I have to meet with the chief of staff in a couple of hours.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know what this is about, Trina. Amya is my daughter.” Her daughter was her whole world. Not that unknown
child somewhere, the one who might look like her, but this child—the one she’d nursed and diapered, whose toes she’d tickled and counted, the one who squeezed her hand.

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No, I’ll be fine,” Garland focused passionately on only one thought: Amya was hers. “It may turn out to be nothing.”

  “Maybe they just want to reassure you that everything has been straightened out.”

  “I hope so,” she replied.”

  “Why don’t you let me go with you, Garland?” Trina offered again. “I’m sure this is nerve-racking. It certainly would be for me.”

  “Maybe it might be a good idea to have you accompany me. I’m so nervous right now that I’m not sure I can even drive.”

  “You don’t have to worry about driving, Garland. I’ll pick you up.”

  “Okay,” she stated. “Thanks, Trina.”

  Garland was grateful for her friend. This was not something she wanted to go through alone. She tried to keep a positive outlook. Perhaps the hospital was just being thorough. Maybe they wanted to reassure her that Amya was truly her daughter. Garland did not want to consider any other option. The thought made Garland sick to her stomach.

  She checked her watch as she headed back to the sales floor. She said to Robyn, “I need to run out for a couple hours.”

  Trina arrived ten minutes later.

  * * *

  When they pulled into the hospital parking lot in Charleston, Garland felt the onset of fear and the prickle of goose bumps on her skin. “Trina, I’m not sure I can do this.”

  “You can,” her friend assured her. “I’ll be right beside you.”

  She smiled at Trina. “I’m so glad that you insisted on coming with me. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.”

  Suddenly, Garland froze as her eyes met Ryker’s when she walked into the waiting area of the hospital chief’s office. “What is he doing here?” she whispered.

  Trina followed her gaze. “Who is he?”