Read Online THE SECRET OF CHEROKEE COVE by Paula Graves - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Paula Graves
Tags: ROMANCE - - SUSPENSE
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her spine. “I’m ready.”
“What have you been told about your mother’s experiences here at the hospital?” Doris asked.
As briefly as she could, Dana told Doris the story that Nix had imparted to her, leaving out nothing, no matter how insulting to her mother. As she spoke, she saw Doris’s expression grow first troubled, then indignant.
“Oh, honey, if that’s what you’ve heard, no wonder you want answers,” Doris said when Dana fell silent. “It’s a bunch of half-truths and flat-out lies. I can promise you that.”
Even though she’d known in her heart that Nix’s story was a gross mischaracterization, Dana felt a little thrill of relief to hear Doris Kingsley’s reassurance. “So what’s true and what’s not?”
“It’s true your mama came here to the hospital to have her baby. A little boy. And it’s true she wasn’t married. She didn’t talk about the father or anything like that. She was focused only on that sweet little baby.” Doris’s gentle eyes grew sad. “She loved that baby boy.”
“Did she pick a name for him?”
“She didn’t get a chance.”
Dana took a deep breath. “What happened to the baby?”
“The doctors said sudden infant death syndrome. Back then, we knew less about how to prevent it. And he was in two of the high-risk categories—born to a teenage mother from a poverty situation.”
“So there was never any question that my mother did something to her baby?”
Doris gave her a pained look. “I’m sorry to say, there was an investigation. But the doctor had seen SIDS cases before, and that poor little baby had all the signs. Your mama didn’t do a thing to that baby but love him.”
Dana blinked, spilling tears that had formed in her eyes. She dashed them away with her fingertips. “What about later? Did she try to take someone else’s baby?”
“I think losing her son put your mama in a very bad place.” Doris’s voice was gentle but firm. “Anything she did was out of that pain.”
“So she did try to take another couple’s baby.”
“I can’t tell you the name of the couple. I know who they were, but we have privacy laws—”
“I’m a deputy U.S. marshal. I understand about laws,” Dana said quickly, afraid Doris would stop before she told everything that had happened. “Just the basics will do.”
“Your mama became convinced her baby had been switched with the dead baby. Coincidentally, the only other couple in the maternity ward at the time of her baby’s death came from the same town as your mother.”
So the other couple had been from Bitterwood, too. That could help her narrow the possibilities. “What made my mother think there was a switch?”
“She said the dead baby didn’t look like her son.” Doris shook her head. “I wasn’t on duty when it happened. I never saw the baby’s body, but I know that people don’t look the same when they’re dead as when they’re alive. And with babies, who can look so much alike anyway—”
“She was seeing what she wanted to see,” Dana finished for her.
“I think she must have been, don’t you?”
Dana supposed it was the most likely answer. Grief could make the whole world look like an alien landscape, even a world as familiar to you as the sound of your own voice. She’d experienced deep, crushing grief twice in her life so far. The world had changed drastically for her both times.
What must it have been like for her mother, alone, scared and clinging to the one good thing in her life, only to see it taken from her so quickly and cruelly?
“She dressed up like a nurse’s aide and took the other family’s baby in his bassinet as if she was taking him back to the nursery. They discovered what she’d done just a couple of minutes later when the real nurse’s aide came for the child,” Doris continued. “The hospital went on lockdown. They caught her trying to take the baby out through the employees’ exit on the ground floor.”
“Was she
“What have you been told about your mother’s experiences here at the hospital?” Doris asked.
As briefly as she could, Dana told Doris the story that Nix had imparted to her, leaving out nothing, no matter how insulting to her mother. As she spoke, she saw Doris’s expression grow first troubled, then indignant.
“Oh, honey, if that’s what you’ve heard, no wonder you want answers,” Doris said when Dana fell silent. “It’s a bunch of half-truths and flat-out lies. I can promise you that.”
Even though she’d known in her heart that Nix’s story was a gross mischaracterization, Dana felt a little thrill of relief to hear Doris Kingsley’s reassurance. “So what’s true and what’s not?”
“It’s true your mama came here to the hospital to have her baby. A little boy. And it’s true she wasn’t married. She didn’t talk about the father or anything like that. She was focused only on that sweet little baby.” Doris’s gentle eyes grew sad. “She loved that baby boy.”
“Did she pick a name for him?”
“She didn’t get a chance.”
Dana took a deep breath. “What happened to the baby?”
“The doctors said sudden infant death syndrome. Back then, we knew less about how to prevent it. And he was in two of the high-risk categories—born to a teenage mother from a poverty situation.”
“So there was never any question that my mother did something to her baby?”
Doris gave her a pained look. “I’m sorry to say, there was an investigation. But the doctor had seen SIDS cases before, and that poor little baby had all the signs. Your mama didn’t do a thing to that baby but love him.”
Dana blinked, spilling tears that had formed in her eyes. She dashed them away with her fingertips. “What about later? Did she try to take someone else’s baby?”
“I think losing her son put your mama in a very bad place.” Doris’s voice was gentle but firm. “Anything she did was out of that pain.”
“So she did try to take another couple’s baby.”
“I can’t tell you the name of the couple. I know who they were, but we have privacy laws—”
“I’m a deputy U.S. marshal. I understand about laws,” Dana said quickly, afraid Doris would stop before she told everything that had happened. “Just the basics will do.”
“Your mama became convinced her baby had been switched with the dead baby. Coincidentally, the only other couple in the maternity ward at the time of her baby’s death came from the same town as your mother.”
So the other couple had been from Bitterwood, too. That could help her narrow the possibilities. “What made my mother think there was a switch?”
“She said the dead baby didn’t look like her son.” Doris shook her head. “I wasn’t on duty when it happened. I never saw the baby’s body, but I know that people don’t look the same when they’re dead as when they’re alive. And with babies, who can look so much alike anyway—”
“She was seeing what she wanted to see,” Dana finished for her.
“I think she must have been, don’t you?”
Dana supposed it was the most likely answer. Grief could make the whole world look like an alien landscape, even a world as familiar to you as the sound of your own voice. She’d experienced deep, crushing grief twice in her life so far. The world had changed drastically for her both times.
What must it have been like for her mother, alone, scared and clinging to the one good thing in her life, only to see it taken from her so quickly and cruelly?
“She dressed up like a nurse’s aide and took the other family’s baby in his bassinet as if she was taking him back to the nursery. They discovered what she’d done just a couple of minutes later when the real nurse’s aide came for the child,” Doris continued. “The hospital went on lockdown. They caught her trying to take the baby out through the employees’ exit on the ground floor.”
“Was she
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