Innocence

Jaxson yelled while backing out of the room. Caroline took a haphazard step toward us. I clung tighter to Jaxson as he yelled. “Doctor! We need a doctor!” Jaxson yelled.

Caroline gasped for air with her arms outstretched as she kept following us into the hallway. I screamed as commotion sounded from all around us. Alarms went off.

On her last breath she said, “It was all for my son. Tell

him I love him.”

Her body collapsed and the truth of the situation set in.

“WE NEED A DOCTOR!” The roar of Jaxson’s voice jolted me as he rushed down the hall to meet the nurse on her way. “My wife is pregnant. A woman tried to attack her. I need to know her and the baby are okay.”

Quickly we followed one nurse into another room.

All the missing facts fell into place as uncontrollable tears racked my body.

It was Caroline.

Someone I thought of as a mother. I loved her.

She was responsible for Alec.

For my mother.

For me.

The stress from the day had the darkness ebbing in. I wanted to escape for just a little while. As I slipped away, I whispered. “My mom. Check my mom for drugs.”

I AWOKE ON A JOLT remembering Caroline’s face from the nightmare. It was the middle of the night. The bathroom fixture cast enough light to make out the people in my room. Jaxson sat in one chair with my dad at the end. Charles was near the door.

“Water?” My voice came out low and hoarse.

Jaxson was attuned to me, hearing even the faintest noise as he awoke. He pressed a button. “The doctor is on the way.”

“The baby? Ty?”

Oh, please let the baby and Ty be okay. Please. Please. Please. Please let the baby and Ty be okay. Don’t let Caroline rob me of something else.

Jaxson kissed my forehead as I prepared myself for the worst. “The baby is fine. Ty is fine. He’s with my parents. Everyone is okay.”

“Was it real? Was Caroline in my room?”

Solemnly, Jaxson nodded as the other two men stirred awake. I looked to Dad when all that had been revealed about Mom came to me.

“What about Mom?” Panic set in as the heart monitor raced.

Caressing my face, Jaxson tried to soothe me. “Sweetheart, you’re fine. Calm down for the baby. Your mom is safe.”

I took a deep breath. “I meant, did you test her for the drugs? Caroline said the dementia was induced. She’s on high doses of Xanax and Serax. I can’t remember the others. Mom was close to the truth. They poisoned her.”

A flutter of movement happened as Dad got on the phone with Millie and the police showed up, who apparently were camped out in the waiting room. After the doctors cleared me, I retold the events of what happened.

I felt dirty after reliving it.

Betrayed. Shocked. Heartbroken.

When it all ended, I was exhausted. Charles was questioned in another room. He’d flown in with his father, who was currently being detained. Jaxson refused to leave me as he retold the events. Apparently Caroline had created a fake emergency at the clinic. She’d underestimated the new security measure that had just gone into effect. Jaxson turned around and came back to me.

Dad spent most of the morning on the phone. I was anxious to see what was happening with Mom.