Chapter 1 - THE BABY IN JUNE’S BLANKET
Eli was already blocking the bassinet when Luke pushed it through the doorway.
My six-year-old stepson planted both sneakers against the hospital floor and stretched his arms across the clear plastic crib. His face was white with terror.
“That’s not your sister!” he shouted. “Your father switched the babies!”
Pain tightened across my C-section incision as I tried to sit upright.
“What?”
Luke caught Eli by both shoulders.
“Move.”
“No!”
Eli pointed at the newborn wrapped in the pink-and-white blanket I had chosen for June.
“I saw you!”
Luke dragged him sideways.
Then he raised his hand and struck him across the face.
The slap sent Eli crashing onto the floor beside my bed.
“Luke!”
My IV line pulled as I reached toward them.
Eli curled onto one elbow, stunned.
Luke stood over him, jaw tight.
“He’s jealous and making this up.”
Nurse Camille Ross entered at a run.
She saw Eli on the floor, Luke’s raised hand, and the bassinet between them.
“Step away from both children.”
“This is a family matter,” Luke said.
Camille placed herself between him and the newborn.
“Not anymore.”
She examined the infant’s ankle identification band. The clasp hung partly open beneath the blanket.
Camille turned it over slowly.
Luke’s expression changed.
She lifted the electronic tag with gloved fingers and scanned it.
The device flashed red.
“This identification band has been opened.”
Luke reached toward the bassinet.
Camille blocked his hand.
“Do not touch the child.”
Eli pushed himself upright. A red mark spread across his cheek.
“I saw him move two babies,” he said. “He switched their blankets.”
I stared at Luke.
He had been attentive throughout the pregnancy. He had attended appointments, selected the private room, and insisted that his company’s newest infant-security system be installed on our floor.
Now he looked toward the hallway instead of at me.
A woman appeared in the doorway wearing a hospital gown and wristband. Her brown hair clung damply to her forehead. She pushed an empty bassinet with both hands.
She saw the newborn beside Camille.
Her face collapsed.
“That’s my baby.”
The room became silent.
The woman pointed toward the infant wearing June’s blanket.
“That’s my baby—where is yours?”
I looked into the bassinet.
The little girl’s eyes were closed. A faint crescent-shaped birthmark rested behind her left ear.
I had never seen it.
Luke stepped backward.
Camille struck the emergency button.
Red lights appeared above the maternity doors.
“Code Pink,” an automated voice announced. “Nobody leaves the building.”
Security shutters lowered across the elevators.
Camille knelt beside Eli without turning her back on Luke.
“Did you see where the other baby went?”
Eli nodded through tears.
Luke moved toward him.
Two security officers entered and stopped him.
I pressed one hand over my incision and the other against the bassinet.
“Luke,” I whispered. “Where is June?”
He looked at me for one terrible second.
Not confused.
Not frightened for our daughter.
May you like
Caught.
And that was when I understood that whatever had happened had begun before Eli screamed.
