TWENTY-TWO
The bottom stair creaked beneath the weight of my foot but this time, I continued up the old wooden stairs. When I reached the first landing, I had to steady myself against the railing.
Drake touched my arm. “Mon chaton, are you okay? Are you sure you want to go up with me? I cannot stress it enough that the sight will not be pretty.” He took a deep breath. “I would prefer to go alone.”
I nodded resolutely but remained rooted in fear, clinging, white knuckled, to the railing. “I have to go. For Dorothy.”
“Then let me go first?” he suggested. I nodded. Taking my hand in his, he started up the second flight of stairs. With a shaky breath, I followed him.
When we made it to the doorway at the top of the stairs, my heart stopped. Lying face down in the middle of the hallway was the doctor. Blood pooled around him, and he did not move. His front arms were pinned beneath him, like he might have been on his knees and fallen forward when he died. I shuddered at the thought and pried my eyes away. The door at the end of the hall was cracked open, but it was too dark to see inside. Light from the moon illuminated the hallway, but the dim glow made the whole scene even spookier. We followed the sound of the whimpers.
As we passed the doctor’s body, I sandwiched myself as close to the wall as I could. Blood looked black in the dim of the night as it seeped out from beneath him onto the floor. I stepped over the sticky pool and concentrated on Drake’s hand, which he wrapped reassuringly around mine. I kept my gaze fixed on his back. Once we passed the doctor, I breathed a sigh of relief. That was quickly eclipsed by dread when I remembered the worst was yet to come. I shook my head and tried to rid my imagination of what awaited me in Dorothy’s room.
“Ma minette,” Drake started in a deep and concerned voice as soon as he opened the door to Dorothy’s room. He turned around to face me and took each of my upper arms between his large hands, forcing me to face him. “Please do not do this.”
I stared up into his beautiful face and slowly shook my head. “I have to.”
He just looked at me for a few more seconds before he released me and stepped aside. It was worse than any image I could have dreamed up. Dorothy’s body twisted awkwardly beneath her. Her eyes were still open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her beautiful, porcelain face was no longer visible. A grotesque concoction of blood, skull fragments and hair was splayed on the floor. My hand instantly rose to my mouth and I tried to stop the rising bile from escaping. I was glad I hadn’t eaten all day. Lying on the floor next to Dorothy I spotted a bundle of blankets. The baby’s cries diminished to a soft hiccup. My heart broke for the tiny girl lying next to her lifeless mother, her blanket speckled black with her mother’s blood. Baby Alice.
Tears came to my eyes and I was forced to back against the wall of the room just to steady myself. Drake moved mechanically. He swooped down and grabbed the baby before taking her over to the bed and unwrapping her many layers. Once the baby saw she was no longer alone, she cried with renewed fervor. Drake checked over her small, helpless body while I looked on in horror. All I could do was watch him, my eyes drifting uneasily from the body on the floor to Drake and the baby, then back again.
He was right. I shouldn’t have come into the room because I knew I’d never forget what I’d just seen.
Drake stripped the sheet from the bed and used it to re-swaddle Alice. He handed her to me and I numbly extended my arms to accept her.
“Are you okay, ma minette?” asked Drake. I tried to nod, but my eyes were fixed on the hideousness behind him. Even Alice’s thin wails took a moment to reach me. I felt like I was under water or vaguely remembering a dream.
The baby’s cries sounded less desperate. I looked down at the bundle in my arms and saw the baby girl for the first time. Her pale skin was translucent white. I detected small, blue veins beneath her paper thin skin. Her head was crowned with a downy layer of blond hair. Her eyes were big and blue and wide, staring up at me in silent fascination. She was only one or two days old, and her delicate features were so miniature, she looked almost like a rare doll. She was not yet to the phase when babies become “cute,” but to me, Alice was beautiful. My chest stirred when I thought she’d never know the murdered woman lying on the floor. But I felt slightly reassured that she’d never remember the horror of this moment either. I envied Alice because Drake was right. What I saw was an image I could never forget.
***
I followed Drake numbly out of the small doctor’s room, feeling more fatigue than I’d ever felt in my life. I kept my eyes firmly riveted on the baby. The second time we passed the doctor’s body, I wasn’t quite as rattled. My nerves were fried and I ignored the grotesque scene in a state of temporary apathy. All I cared about now was getting Alice to safety.
Drake and I didn’t speak when we descended the stairs. I suddenly became terrified at the thought of Junior returning to finish the job. After the baby quieted, however, the house was completely silent. The stairs creaked below us as we made our way sluggishly toward the wide open door. Outside, dawn was breaking and the gray night surrendered to a softer, lighter blue. A few birds chirped as a shiny layer of frozen dew sparkled over the greenery.
We made our way across the front yard, our shoes leaving footprints in the frost. My ears and fingers ached in the cold, but I barely noticed. Maybe an alien force was propelling me forward, but I felt like I was outside my body, watching myself drift along the crisp, white grass behind Drake’s silent figure. When we finally reached the main road, my shoulders deflated. I couldn’t see the cab anywhere. My legs ached and my arms were sore from holding Alice.
She was so small, so easy to cradle in my arms. Drake gave me a worried glance. He held out his hands and offered to take Alice. I gratefully handed him the warm bundle. She was light, but at this point, I didn’t trust my legs to carry me, let alone, an infant.
“Where is the cab driver?” I asked. I couldn’t keep the exhaustion from my voice.
“He’s about a mile down, we walked quite far. That’s a good thing, I don’t think it would have helped us if he heard the gunshots.” My brain turned to ice at that thought; the baby was suspicious enough. Coupled with the gunshots, we could wind up in prison before we ever managed to get Alice to safety. Drake showed no concern, however, so I tried to push the worry from my mind.
Finally, after what felt like weeks of walking, I caught sight of the cab—a small speck on the side of the dirt road. Seeing the cab was still there created some warmth inside me that spread into my shocked limbs. With our destination in sight, I quickened my pace. My body had other ideas, however, and no sooner did I start to hurry before I was doubled over, struggling to keep myself from hyperventilating.
“I think I need to sit down,” I said to Drake’s worried face between choking gasps. He nodded, raising his eyebrows and looking concerned. He shifted the baby to one arm and took my elbow with the other. We made it to the shoulder of the road. Drake sat beside me, his face a composed expression of care and concern. Slowly, my breathing returned to normal, but my eyelids felt so heavy, and my limbs were numb and lifeless. Something was wrong.
“I think you’re in shock,” said Drake in a deep voice. I nodded because he was right. I felt so much worse than anything I’d ever experienced. Shock would have been a welcome relief to the pain and concrete heaviness in my body. Drake’s chocolate eyes met mine, and the anxiety carved lines into his forehead. My heart melted. That coupled with the sleeping baby now snuggled in his manly arms were just about enough to slay me. Even with exhaustion anchoring my limbs, I still fought the urge to lean into him. I trained my attention on baby Alice instead. I was a little worried if I kept looking at Drake, I might start to hyperventilate again.
The baby began to whimper and I took a moment to adjust the blanket around the soft, delicate skin on her head. She almost glowed in the early morning light. The sky turned white and the road appeared to stretch on endlessly. I breathed slowly and pushed myself up from the ground. My legs cramped in protest as I watched Drake struggle to stand beside me. He looked the way I felt. His head hung lower than normal and his face lacked its usual color. Thick stubble darkened his cheeks and gray bags hung beneath his red-rimmed eyes.
The journey into the past wasn’t kind to either of us, but my stomach knotted at the thought it would soon be coming to an end. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, not yet. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Drake mostly.
As we approached the cab, I saw the driver inside with his head resting against his seat, and his eyes closed. I could only hope he slept through the chaos of the last two hours. Had he heard anything? What about Junior’s car speeding past him in the opposite direction? Worry immobilized me and my head throbbed in response.
He had his coat wrapped tightly around him and I made a mental note to give him every last bill we had. This man had singlehandedly allowed our entire mission over the last twelve hours to become possible. I looked down at Alice again, growing a little wary about how our explanation would fly. How could we explain the baby?
Luckily for us, when Drake knocked on the driver’s window, he started up the car without question. Maybe my coat was large enough to conceal my midsection and the driver just thought the baby was mine. I learned very quickly that he hadn’t fully realized that we added a third member to our party yet. As soon as we entered the car, he whipped around in his seat. For the first time, I looked at our driver. He was a slender man, with thinning, dirty blond hair. His watery eyes were a light blue and his yellowish cheeks sunk slightly beneath his prominent cheekbones. His face stared at us in an expression of confusion and shock.
“Okay, whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where did that baby come from?” he demanded, eyes wide.
“Please don’t ask us any questions,” Drake started but the man shook his head.
“I’ve indulged you two all night, but this is way too much. If the police question me, I’m not going to jail. I have a family!” he huffed angrily.
My eyes widened and I turned to Drake. His expression was thoughtful. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick bundle of bills. Silently, he handed the wad to the driver.
“Take us to the nearest hospital please,” Drake said.
The driver’s eyes grew wider and he cocked his head to the side as if considering the pros and cons of accepting it. He exhaled a long, slow breath and his mouth became a perfect “O.” Finally, he concluded the bribe was worth his cooperation and extended his hand with a resigned whistle. After accepting the bills, he turned in his seat and put the car into gear. Even though he cast us an exasperated glance before turning the car around, he was polite enough to keep his thoughts to himself.
I leaned in to Drake and whispered in his ear, “Wasn’t that the most suspicious thing you could do?”
Drake shrugged. “I am not concerned. I asked him to take us to the hospital which doesn’t seem so conspicuous.” The more I thought about it, the less it continued to bother me. Even if the driver reported us to the police, we’d be long gone before they could find us. At the thought of returning to the present day, my stomach ached and churned.
The car responded the same way: it choked and wheezed for a few moments before finally rolling away. Alice’s eyes were closed and she leaned against the warmth of my chest.
I glanced over at Drake and noticed his thumb and forefinger pinched the bridge of his nose. I’d rarely seen Drake look so tired. The only other time was after he battled a powerful demon.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“No, I’m very tired.”
“Drake, do you think it affects us? Being here, I mean? Maybe I’m being overly dramatic, but I feel like I’m, I don’t know… dying.”
“Oui, ma minette. I feel it too. Although, like Lovie and Christopher warned, it is affecting you more than me. The sooner we return, the better you will feel.”
Drake confirmed my suspicions but that only made our upcoming goodbye weigh even heavier on my mind. I stared at his tired face, so handsome despite the unflattering white light and his obvious exhaustion. His eyes met mine and the soft, chocolate brown irises seemed to warm when he looked at me. My heart began to beat faster. I stared at him longingly, trying but failing to stop the moment from passing so fast. I wasn’t sure but it looked like he was trying to do the same.
The car bumped and banged along, I held my hand to Alice’s cheek to make sure she was okay. Knowing next to nothing about infants, her silence worried me. I was sure this level of excitement and chaos were not normal or maybe even tolerable for a baby. I hoped she didn’t get hurt when she fell with Dorothy. I worried, What if I’d gotten it wrong? What if we weren’t supposed to take her to the hospital? Maybe my presence interfered with all kinds of history. Was there a chance we’d be returning to a different future? As I gazed maternally at Alice’s waxy complexion, my anxiety paralyzed me. What if we’d made a huge mistake?
I must have dozed off for a minute because I was startled awake when the vehicle came to a jolting stop. Back in the city, we arrived outside a large building on a grimy road just as people started to get busy with their day. A large, iron gate rose ominously in front of us. Large block letters reading “St. Francis Hospital” were carved out of the black metal. The light of day didn’t differ too much from the night. The sky was a light gray that reflected the snow in the rare parts that weren’t mixed with black soot and dirt. The hospital was huge, much larger than the makeshift mansion that served as the abortion doctor’s headquarters. The gate was fixed to a large brick wall on either side. The driver exited his seat and opened the back door.
I stepped out onto the walk in front of the hospital. The cab driver made no comment, but arched an eyebrow at the sight of the baby. Alice was asleep, and her fleshy, pink-hued face was turned into the sheet, her delicate fingers curled beneath her chin.
I tried to smile innocently at the cab driver, hoping our next stop wouldn’t be the police station. Drake nodded to the driver and walked to the gate and pushed it open.
He stood at the entrance but I hesitated, unsure of what to do.
“If we go inside, won’t they ask us questions?” I asked him.
“I don’t know, mon chaton. I’ve never abducted a baby before,” he raised his eyebrow and smiled dryly at me. I was so overwhelmed at the events of the day, that it took me a moment to realize he was making a joke. My brain was slow and sluggish, I could barely keep my eyes focused on his face, let alone, register the words he was saying.
I tried to smile, but when I saw Drake’s frown, I realized that I failed.
“Well, should we tell them that we time traveled from 2018 as freelancers for ancestry.com in an effort to solve a century-old mystery and we decided to take the baby back as our souvenir?” The question was supposed to be humorous but Drake’s brows furrowed and he appeared seriously concerned. Trying to lighten his mood was like trying to push a car without any gas up a hill, in a blizzard, with a broken foot! Oh yeah, and the car is filled with lead bricks. There was no place for jokes after what we witnessed and our minds were still recoiling from the bleak images we exposed them to. Considering the possibility we changed history by taking the baby, it was possible we also destroyed everything we expected to return to.
Everything, said a nasty, ominous voice inside my head. Regardless, we couldn’t exactly go back in time and change it. No, we couldn’t go back in time again.
“I guess we’ll just say we found her?”
“Where?” asked Drake.
My temples started throbbing with a headache, no doubt from the exhaustion.
“In an alleyway?”
Drake hesitated at first but then nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
I slushed through the wet, gray snow and entered the gate. Drake followed close behind. We made our way to the front of the hospital. I wondered what time it was, and guessed it couldn’t have been later than seven a.m. The air was still cool from the lingering nighttime temperatures. Icy, white fog left my mouth with every exhale.
We came to a large set of doors and Drake opened them for me. Inside, it looked nothing like any of the hospitals I knew. A dim hallway seemed to extend forever in either direction. Windows let some of the light from the outside in, but the hallway remained eerily dark. I couldn’t see anyone. Should we just leave the baby here? Someone would surely find her soon, wouldn’t they? That way, we wouldn’t have to answer any questions.
From down the hallway, I heard voices and I turned to Drake to tell him my plan.
“Can we just leave her here? I hear voices talking; someone’s sure to find her soon?”
He seemed hesitant. I didn’t care much for the idea of ding-dong ditching a baby either. But as far as 1910 New York was concerned, Drake Montague and his wife didn’t even exist! The fewer people we interacted with, the better. Especially when an orphaned mystery infant was concerned.
I looked down at Alice, sound asleep in her bundle of sheets. I wondered what kind of a life she’d have. She would never know who her mother was or why she was abandoned at a New York hospital on a fateful morning in December. It bothered me that she died without ever getting the answers she sought but I was happy for the legacy of women who succeeded her and loved her dearly. She lived a long, full life. Maybe we had something to do with it. Now, I only hoped the future we returned to was the same one we left.
I didn’t have the heart to leave little Alice on the floor by the entrance. It was wet with trampled snow. The low lighting and emptiness made the scene look like something out of a horror movie rather than a place of recuperation and security. To be fair, I hadn’t a clue about what to expect. My introduction to early twentieth century hospitals was minimal. Everything about this was alien to me. Like Drake pointed out, I didn’t know the proper protocol for stealing babies and relinquishing them to old, scary hospitals. The voices got louder from what must have been an adjoining hallway, one that I couldn’t see from where I stood at the entrance. Two men wearing white-collared coats with high necks rounded the corner and stepped into the hallway. They were dressed entirely in white with the exception of a black bowtie tied around each of their necks. One of them was wearing spectacles.
They looked from Drake to me, and then to the baby.
The spectacled one spoke first as soon he was close enough, “Can we help you?”
“Yes, um…” I stuttered.
Drake interjected, “We found a child outside here and we don’t know whom she belongs to.”
Even in his confident voice, the sentence sounded ludicrous. Who stumbles over a child outside a hospital? The spectacled man seemed to share my doubt. He took off his glasses and rubbed them against his white coat. Putting his glasses back on, he stepped closer to Drake and me. I tried to look as innocent as possible, but my flagging energy was already challenged and I could barely keep my legs from collapsing.
“You found her?” he asked skeptically.
“Yes, not far from here, in an alleyway.” My voice came out in a strange falsetto that I almost didn’t recognize. “We couldn’t just leave her there.”
I saw the other doctor’s eyes flickering to my midsection, but it was too hard for him to see beneath the tangle of sheets I carried. I’m sure he thought the baby was mine and I was trying to get rid of her there.
“Was anyone else there?”
“No one that we saw…” I trailed off, our pathetic story sounding less and less true.
The non-spectacled doctor spoke now, “What were you doing in an alleyway so early in the morning?”
He seemed overly nosy with that question but then again, we were trying to abandon an unidentified infant. If there were an appropriate time for prying, I’m sure this would have been it.
“Um, well,” I replied, hoping our interrogation was nearing an end. “We heard the baby crying when we were leaving our hotel and we followed the sound…”
“Listen, we’re sorry to turn this mystery over to you, but we didn’t know what else to do. It was cold and we thought we should get her to safety. Can you please take her? Make sure she’s okay?” Drake cut in and I threw him a grateful glance.
The doctors looked at one another. One gave us an almost microscopic nod. My shoulders dropped from their uncomfortable position by my ears. The doctor extended his hands and I transferred Alice with tenderness and care to him. With a clearer view of my midsection, the second doctor seemed to relax slightly. I calmed down too, but was still unsure if they believed us.
“We’ll need your names and information; would you follow us please? What hotel were you staying at?”
I blinked at him and panicked. We couldn’t exactly give our names and information! In a very short time, we would be very hard, if not impossible, to contact. I cast a worried look at Drake who seemed nonplussed.
“The Steffield Inn,” he said. The doctor nodded, like that was exactly what one might expect to find behind the Steffield Inn. I’d never heard of it but I figured it was good enough that the doctor had. I smiled stupidly, hoping my innocuous expression would mask my sense of utter uselessness.
The doctors started down the hallway and Drake wrapped his fingers around my hand. His hand felt warm. Casting a glance back at us, the doctors proceeded. As soon as both the men were facing forward, I felt a yank before Drake was pulling me back the way we came. Our fast moving feet clacked along the hard tile flooring.
“Hey!” came a shout from the doctors as we pushed open the entrance doors and nearly launched ourselves out into the cold morning light. Exhilarated, we ran down the snowy front path and back through the gate. I looked over my shoulder to see if they were chasing us and saw one doctor standing in the doorway. He was holding the door open, but no one ran after us.
When we were far enough away, we rounded the corner and got into the cab as quickly as we could. I couldn’t deny my impatience while waiting for it to start up again. When it finally roared to life with a series of squeaks and grinding clanks, I let out the breath I’d been holding inside my ribcage.
“Where to, sir?” asked the driver. I looked at Drake, a little crestfallen. There was only one place left to go.
Home.