While he parked his car in the casino lot, he envisioned winning the big jackpot. He could see himself scooping up mounds of chips and cashing them in for tens of thousands of dollars. Then, he’d buy his wife something special, a gold bracelet or maybe diamond earrings—big fat ones. Angela deserved it, he thought, putting up with him all these years. She had thought she had married a future Pulitzer Prize winner. Now, all he wrote were the occasional corporate training manual and he didn’t get too many of those anymore. He turned off his car and inhaled. Today was going to be different. He could feel it. Today would make up for all the years he had disappointed her.
The sliding front doors of the casino magically parted as David approached the entrance. A gladiator entering the Colosseum, he was alive again. At the casino, he wasn’t mocked by the vengeful words on the page. Here, he was a player and the possibilities were endless. The mere thought of winning made him high. Feeling his mojo return is what always brought him back to the roulette wheel or blackjack table. Setting foot inside the building, he heard the bells of the slot machines ring. Blood coursed through his veins and his endorphins began to flow. Sure, he’d been on a losing streak, but a long downward period only made his inevitable win that much sweeter. Enveloped in the fantasy of conquering the table, he was sure this was the day he had been waiting for.
As he walked through the different rooms of the casino, the catcalls of the players, the music of the slots and even the stale smell of the room activated the dopamine in his brain. He was flying—nothing would stop him from his destiny today. He started to walk towards the blackjack tables when an arm grabbed him from behind.
‘What are you doing here, Mr. Crawford?’
David spun around. It was Vinny, the six-foot-four security guard who worked at the hotel. If Vinny hadn’t worked for the hotel, he might have been a professional wrestler.
‘I’m here to try my luck like every other person in this place,’ said David innocently. ‘Only difference between me and the rest of these jokers is, today, I’m going to win.’
‘Sure, it is, Mr. Crawford. But you’re not supposed to be in here.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about?’
‘C’mon, we had this talk the last time you were here. You took a casino loan and you ain’t been paying it back in a timely manner. Boss said you can’t play here until you’re all paid up.’
‘I think there’s some misunderstanding, Vinny.’
‘No misunderstanding. The boss was very clear. I need you to turn around now and head out that door,’ Vinny said as he gripped David’s upper arm and led him towards the exit.
Once they were outside Vinny let go and David dramatically rubbed his shoulder as if he had been injured during their walk.
‘It’s nothing personal, Mr. Crawford. You’re a nice guy. Business is business and you owe the casino money. It’s that simple. Pay off your bill and you’ll be welcome here again.’
David stood up as straight as he could in order to maintain whatever dignity he thought he had left. ‘Thanks so much, Vincent. Good advice. I’ll be sure to get a check out to the casino in the morning. See you in a few days.’
‘Sure, Mr. Crawford. See you, but only after the check has cleared, okay?’
30
That evening, back in the supply room, Jenny dug through more boxes filled with disorganized documents. It was a tedious job but she had enjoyed being in the inner circle at the hospital—sitting in with the board president and all the higher-ups, everyone wanting to know her opinion. It felt good.
‘You’ve surprised me in a good way, Jenny,’ Angela had said when they had a moment alone earlier that day. ‘I knew you were a diligent nurse but your work on this very difficult project has been stellar.’
‘Thank you, Dr. Crawford, I’ve tried really hard,’ Jenny had replied with a big grateful smile.
‘Keep it up,’ said Angela as she paused a moment. ‘Something is puzzling me. This has nothing to do with anything you’re working on, but I noticed in your personnel file, you took time off for about three months a couple of years ago. Mind if I ask what you did?’
Jenny took a deep breath and her eyes narrowed. ‘Dr. Farwell didn’t tell you?’ asked Jenny.
‘Tell me what?’
Jenny looked down at the floor.
‘What is it?’ asked Angela, now intensely curious.
‘It’s all over now, and there’s no reason for concern, but for a time I had a little bit of a substance abuse problem,’ said Jenny, red-faced. ‘Mainly sleeping pills like Ambien and a bad choice on my part to try something at a club one night. It got the better of me and affected my work. I talked to Dr. Farwell and the hospital put me in rehab for three months.’
Angela’s face showed genuine surprise. Jenny doesn’t seem like the type. She comes off as so wholesome. I guess everyone has their secrets.
‘And everything’s fine now?’ asked Angela, tilting her head.
‘Yes, all good.’
‘Wonderful,’ said Angela. ‘Anyway, you’re doing a terrific job.’
Later, Jenny had called Danny and told him all about Dr. Crawford’s compliments and he, always supportive, had been so proud of her.
‘I told you that you could do it,’ her boyfriend had said. ‘All your insecurities were for nothing. The work you did will give the cops the leads they need to break this case wide open. When they catch this guy, they’ll have you to thank for it.’
Jenny reminisced for another minute about the wonderful man now in her life and was filled with gratitude. Her previous boyfriend, Brian, had been the polar opposite. She had been with Brian for five years. They used to smoke weed and get high together and when they weren’t high, he was just plain mean. One day, she realized that the only time he was nice was when he was flying. That chapter of her life was thankfully over now that Brian was out of the picture.
She pulled out another heavy box from the shelf and dragged it over to the table and found more 3 West floor work orders, patient information and directives; dietary requirements, medicine changes, along with daily protocols for patients. She hadn’t seen any of this stuff before.
The interior of this box and a few others like them, were in no order—paper just dumped in willy-nilly. Patient records had been mixed in with other patient records and there was no rhyme or reason whatsoever. It was like someone took a pitchfork and just heaved documents into boxes. Clearly this hospital needs a better record-keeping system.
By nearly midnight, after five hours of digging, she came across one of Eliza Stern’s daily medical schedules mixed in with the rest.
That’s strange. Why would that order be in here? The document was dated from May of the previous year during the window when Eliza Stern had become pregnant. Jenny examined the paper and wrinkled her forehead. This makes no sense. She folded the document in half, put it inside a manila folder and tucked it into her bag to look at more carefully later on.
31
That same night when Angela was standing in their kitchen as David cooked, she told him about everything that had unraveled since that morning when the press broke the story.
‘The floodgates of hell opened today and all the demons flew out shooting poison darts in every direction,’ said Angela. ‘I needed a security escort to go in and out of the building. The word “chaos” doesn’t do justice to what was happening. People shoved cameras in my face and shouted horrible things. There was even press there from China. Can you believe that? China! At one point, the police had to intervene because the reporters and photographers surrounded me.’
‘Do you want me to take you to work in the morning and pick you up at night? I could park by that back entrance and you could go in by the rear door. The reporters won’t be camped back there.’
Angela smiled appreciatively at her husband. The gallant man she married had been her knight in shining armor, but she rarely saw that version anymore. If only he would finish writing his damn book, maybe he’
d find himself and we could be normal again. I want the man he was when we fell in love—confident and strong. He needs a purpose and I may have found one.
‘Let me see how it goes tomorrow. If it’s not any better, I’ll take you up on your offer,’ said Angela. ‘I’m hoping it will die down as time passes, but you never know. Some stories stay alive for a long time and take on a life of their own.’
‘From a writer’s perspective, I think the reason the press and everyone else is so infatuated with this story is because it’s such a hideously disgusting tale that generates all sorts of awful visuals. That’s why it’s piqued everyone’s interest.’
‘That’s probably it,’ said Angela. ‘I’d like to talk to you about something else.’
‘Shoot.’
‘You know how I was the one who delivered Eliza Stern’s baby.’
David nodded.
‘The last six days have been crazy but the staff has really come together and rallied,’ said Angela. ‘I’m so proud of them. They’ve turned Eliza’s room into a sort of nursery and people have volunteered to hold, feed and change the baby. He gets more attention than a prince.’
‘That’s a good thing, right?’
‘It’s a very good thing. We’ve kept the baby with Eliza to keep an eye on him and to provide him with skin on skin contact with the mother. We’ve even had him breastfeed with her. We’re not sure how premature he was, but our guess is about three to four weeks.’ Angela paused and let out a breath as she got to the real point of her speech. ‘I had a visit this afternoon from a Ms. Jablonski,’ said Angela. ‘She’s the intake case worker with the Palm Beach County Child and Family Services unit assigned to this case.’
‘Okay?’
‘I didn’t think they’d move so swiftly given the kind of care we’re providing to the baby,’ said Angela. ‘She came to Oceanside Manor today to check on him and to let me know that it would only be a matter of days before they took him. It’s criminal for that sweet little boy to start his life in foster care, don’t you think?’
‘There’s no family member who could take him?’ asked David.
‘Eliza’s entire family was killed in a car accident and as far as we know, there were no other close relatives. In all these years, she’s never had a family member or a friend, come to visit. If there is a relative, they’re distant or want nothing to do with her.’
‘That’s so sad,’ said David, shaking his head. ‘I’ve heard awful stories about children in the foster system. Sure, there are some good foster families but there are some very bad ones too. Some people do it just for the money.’
‘He’s such a beautiful baby. You should see him. Big chubby cheeks and he makes the cutest faces. I’ve spent some time taking care of him myself.’
‘Really?’
‘I don’t know why but I feel a connection to him. Maybe because it happened in my hospital or because I delivered him or both. He has no one in the world to look out for him. He’s all alone.’
They sat in silence for about thirty seconds when finally, David spoke. ‘I’ve got a thought. Hear me out, Angela,’ he said. ‘We’ve always wanted a baby. Why couldn’t we foster him?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Angela, turning away and looking out the window. ‘That’s a huge commitment and you know how I feel about adoptions.’
‘You never wanted to adopt because you said you’d never know what kind of a gene pool you’d be getting. Right?’
‘Exactly.’
‘But in this case, we do know the mother,’ said David. ‘We know she’s not crazy or a drug addict.’
‘But the baby’s father is a rapist,’ Angela said, turning back to her husband. ‘You want a child whose birth father assaulted a woman in a coma? What if the father’s predilection is passed on to the son.’
‘You’re borrowing trouble,’ said David. ‘It’s a proven fact it’s not only nature that forms people. Nurture has just as much to do with the outcome as genes. Maybe more. We can do this, Angie. We could give that little boy a home.’
David stared at his wife. For years he had tried to get her to agree to an adoption once they knew they would never be able to have children of their own. She had always been emphatically opposed to it, wouldn’t even discuss it, but this time, he sensed a crack in her armor.
‘I suppose, we could foster him for a while and see how it goes. We wouldn’t have to commit to anything permanent,’ said Angela, tapping her nails on the kitchen counter.
‘Exactly.’
‘The baby is special. Everyone says so. He’s completely healthy,’ said Angela in measured tones as if she were trying to convince herself. ‘I guess when you think about it, he actually had the safest and most perfect womb to grow in.’
‘We’re in agreement?’ asked David, smiling.
‘If we don’t take him,’ said Angela, ‘he’s going to be thrown into the foster system. I can’t stand the thought of that little boy being shuffled from one disinterested or possibly abusive home to another. We’d have to talk to our lawyer about this and I’d have to let the board know our intentions.’
‘Of course,’ said David, getting excited.
‘We’d need to ask a few logistical legal questions because the baby already has a mother and we’d have to know what that means in terms of a future adoption.’
‘You would consider adoption?’
‘I didn’t say that,’ said Angela, ‘but I would consider temporary fostering and we’ll see how it goes. That’s all I can commit to right now.’
‘I can live with that.’
‘Since the baby’s mother is under Oceanside Manor’s care, if I say for medical reasons we need to keep him longer, it could buy us the time we need. Then we can do whatever paperwork is necessary to be approved as a foster family by child services.’
‘Are you really sure about this?’ asked David.
‘Yes, but you have to be sure, too. A lot of the childcare is going to fall on you since I’m at work Monday through Friday. Are you certain you’re okay with that?’
David started to laugh and shake his head in disbelief coupled with joy. ‘Absolutely. One thousand percent sure.’
‘In that case, tomorrow morning, I’m going to go see Sharon Anderson,’ said Angela. ‘You remember, she was often my obstetrical nurse when I first opened my practice.’
‘I do remember her,’ said David. ‘Nice woman.’
‘Sharon now works for the Palm Beach Social Services department. I did her a few favors over the years and she owes me. If anyone can help us pull this off, she can. I’ll bet she can move us to the front of the foster line.’ Angela looked at her husband. ‘Are we seriously going to do this?’
‘I’m all in,’ said David, smiling. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to be a father at the age of fifty-three. It’s a good thing I’ve got long living in my family tree.’
‘We’re just fostering,’ Angela reminded her husband. ‘Adoption is a long way off.’
‘I know,’ said David, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Am I not allowed to be happy?’
Angela crossed the room and threw her arms around her husband and kissed him.
‘We’re going to do this,’ said Angela, gazing into her husband’s blue eyes. ‘You know something, I always thought you’d be the best dad that ever lived.’
‘I’d like the chance to prove you right,’ said David as they hugged each other again.
32
Day 7
Before she went to work in the morning, Angela made a detour to the office of Social Services of Palm Beach County to pay a surprise visit on her old colleague, Sharon Anderson. Fifteen years before, when Sharon was a nurse, she had worked alongside Angela in the delivery room and assisted on many births. When Sharon turned forty, she shifted gears, went back to school and got her masters and after that her PhD in social work. The two women had always had a good professional relationship and Angela had been one of Sharon’s references for graduate school. When Sharon a
pplied for her current job within the state division of social services, Angela wrote a beautiful testimonial letter for her that helped the nurse land the position. Now, Angela was going to ask her to return the favor. If anyone could help, Sharon could.
When Angela popped her head into Sharon’s beige government issued cubicle, the social worker was both surprised and delighted. After they exchanged a hug and a few family inquiries, Angela got to the point of her visit.
‘I need your help,’ Angela said in a loud whisper.
‘Does it have anything to do with all that business I’ve been hearing about on the news?’ said Sharon. ‘What a tragedy.’
‘It’s been a nightmare and it is related,’ said Angela, choosing her words carefully. ‘Not to the police investigation but it is connected.’
‘If I can help you, you know I will.’
‘As I’m sure you heard,’ said Angela, tapping her nails lightly on Sharon’s desk, ‘one of our patients delivered a baby last week. A boy. Right now, he’s being looked after round the clock by a team of nurses and doctors. He’s getting the absolute best care. But soon he’ll be moved into the foster system.’
‘If there are no family members willing to take him, that is what will happen,’ said Sharon. ‘That’s how it works.’
Without Her Consent Page 12
