“Get out of the way!” I push past a growing crowd of people at the bathroom door. Most of them have their cell phones out, holding them out in front of them so they can record Isabella crumpled on the floor with a pool of blood collecting around her head. John is on my heels as I notice there’s a woman on her belly scurrying under the sinks to reach something… a knife!

It takes every fiber of my being to hurry past Isabella over to the sinks. I want to hold her, to help her, to make everything okay. However, some crazy bitch wielding a knife can only make this worse.

I run over to the woman slithering like a snake under the sinks and grab her feet, yanking her back. As soon as I drop her muddy shoes back to the grimy floor she is desperately grasping for the weapon again. I jump over her squirming, determined body and stomp on her hand with all of my weight.

“Yowww! No, no, no! Her baby is going to grow up in darkness. I’m saving her from the pharaoh!” the dirty bag of bones shrieks as I look down in horror.

“Lisa? What the fuck are you doing here? Oh my God, you crazy bitch!” I glance over at Isabella. Dear Lord, please save Isabella and our baby.

John is holding his daughter in his arms, but Isabella looks lifeless as he holds her, tears dripping from his chin down onto her face.

“John, is she…” I leave the unasked question hanging in the humid air. I can’t bring myself to say the words.

“She’s breathing, Colt.”

“You took everything from me! I have nothing.” Lisa sobs and rage courses through my blood. I want to twist her frail neck until I hear her bones crackle. I want her to be out of my life forever. The thought flashes through my mind like a lightning storm. Instead, I drop my knee into the small of her back, pinning her in place as I twist her arms behind her.

“Shut the fuck up, Lisa. You are the only one who ruined your life. You’re not a victim!” I twist my knee as I glance back at the real victim in the room and then over to the crowd of gawkers with their cell phones hovering around the door. “This isn’t a fucking movie! Someone call nine-one-one, for Christ’s sake.” I swear some people aren’t worth the air they breathe.

“Heavenly Father, please let my baby stay. I’m not ready for her to go to you yet. I just got her back.” John’s voice cracks as he rocks Isabella in his arms like I’ve often held Madison when she wakes up from a bad dream.

“Outta the way! Everyone move it. Now!” Two police officers burst into the bathroom, ordering the scum with phones to clear the way. One of the officers runs to my side. “Sir, I need you to stand up,” he demands, standing over me.

“She’s dangerous. She attacked my fiancée with a knife. Look, it’s right there.” I nod to the switchblade hiding under the sinks. I try not to think about the engagement ring in my pocket and how Lisa may have robbed me of the only woman I’ve ever loved.

“I have control of the situation, sir. I need you to clear out.”

I drop Lisa’s arms like the foul garbage that she is and rush to Isabella’s side.

“Isabella? Baby? Are you all right?” I drop to my knees and wrap my arms around her as John keeps bargaining with God. Isabella’s eyelids start to twitch, and she rolls into my embrace. “Isabella? You’re gonna be all right, I promise. I promise, baby.” I watch as the blood from her forehead blooms on the fabric of my shirt.

“Colt?” she answers me weakly.

All of my anger is washed away by a tide of relief. Tears spring to my eyes as I lean over her and kiss her face.

“The baby! Oh my God, where’s Lisa? Is my baby okay?” She struggles to communicate her jumbled thoughts.

“Everything is going to be okay. The baby is fine.” I smile and run my hand down over her beautiful belly, but when I look down my smile fades as fear grips my throat.

“What’s wrong?” Isabella tries to sit forward to follow my gaze, but a paramedic stops her.

“Just relax and try not to move around too much, okay?” Two other paramedics are calmly carrying over a bright orange stretcher. “We’re gonna get you to the hospital and take care of you and that little one, okay? But I need you to take it easy.” He speaks to Isabella gently, in a practiced calm manner. “Sir, I need you to step out of the way. We’ll take over from here.” His voice firms up and I wordlessly nod, knowing there’s nothing else I can do. “Do you have a preference for the hospital?”

“Yeah, take her to the Presbyterian, please.” I watch as they roll Isabella onto the stretcher. Her eyes are locked on mine and in them I can see her fears.

It seems to take an eternity as they strap her onto the board and brace her neck. However, it isn’t her neck I’m worried about as I watch them easily lift her from the floor and steadily walk her toward the door. She didn’t have any problems lifting her head only moments ago. Luckily, she didn’t lift it far enough to see what I am worried about—the blood soaking the crotch of her pants, billowing upward to her hips and down over her thighs.

I try not to panic as she watches me. I need to keep a poker face and to reassure her it’s all going to be okay. However, with that much blood, I’m not so sure myself.

“Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay. We’ll meet you at the hospital. The cops have Lisa, so don’t even think about her anymore. You’re gonna be all right.” I feel like a liar as I follow the paramedics carrying Isabella out to the ambulance. But I don’t know what else to say. Stressing her even more isn’t going to help anything.

“Isabella! Oh my Lord! My baby!” Shirley starts shrieking as soon as we get outside the door.

Police are everywhere, keeping people from getting too close.

“Shirley, hush, she’s gonna be okay.” John walks over to his frantic wife. Madison starts calling me from Shirley’s arms as soon as she spots me.

“Colt, here! I need you!”

I hate Lisa with every fiber of my being. I can’t believe the terror she’s caused my family, not to mention her own flesh and blood. She never deserved any child, let alone one as sweet and loving as Madison.

As the paramedics load Isabella into the back of the ambulance, I make my way over to my niece. The truth is, I need the comfort of her little baby arms around my neck right now as much as she needs me.

As soon as Madison is in my grasp, Shirley collapses against her husband’s chest. Her body is heaving as she sobs loudly, and John rubs his hand over her back the same way I am doing with Madison.

“Colt? Where is Isabella going?” She looks at me wide-eyed. Even at two years old she’s smart enough to know the answer isn’t good.

“Isabella fell down, honey. She just needs to go to the doctor and get a checkup. It’s all going to be okay.” My throat closes tight around my words, as I choke back my tears. My mind is spinning like a cyclone. Not even an hour ago I was talking to John about marrying his daughter. That feels like it was another lifetime ago.

“Mama! Mama, come here!” Madison starts twisting and flopping around in my arms.

I struggle to hang onto her like a trophy fisherman waiting for someone to take a picture of their prize catch.

“Mama, I want my mommy!” She starts wailing, and I look around in confusion until I spot Lisa in the back of a police car. With her head bowed and her body shaking, Lisa is still in her own world filled with delusions and distress.

Anger trembles through me as I watch her sit there, oblivious to the pain she’s caused me and Madison. She hasn’t even noticed her own daughter, who is freaking out to be near the mother who never deserved to raise her.

“Come here!” Madison’s voice is hoarse from screaming, and tears are mixing with snot on her face. There’s no amount of hugging or hushing her that’s going to calm her hysterics. We need to get out of here.

Now.

“Let’s go.” I nod at John. “We need to get to the hospital and get her out of here.”

He nods in response and shelters Shirley with his arms, turning to go.

“No go! No go!” Madison sobs bitterly. “Mommy!” She cries the words so hard it makes me choke back my own tears.

I try to hold her against my chest, but Madison doesn’t understand that her mother can’t take care of her. She doesn’t know Lisa can barely take care of herself. A child can never see anything but the good in their parents. I strain to hold her close to my body as we make our way down the path.

“Sir? Sir!” I turn to see the man calling out to me. A police officer with a round belly and a ruddy complexion is slowly jogging to catch up with us.

“Officer?” What now?

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask that you come with me. There are some forms to fill out and I’ll be needing a witness statement before you can go anywhere.” He puffs out the words like he just sprinted over here.

“Right now? Can’t this wait? I have to get to the hospital, and she needs to get out of here.” I tilt my head toward Madison, who has stopped fighting me and is just crying uncontrollably against my shoulder.

“No, it can’t wait. I’m sorry, sir. It shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes or so.” He rubs his hand over his neck and stares at my shoes, his cheeks turning crimson as Madison bawls loudly.

“Fine.” I push the words through my clenched teeth. “Lord knows we haven’t been through enough already. What’s another twenty minutes, right?”

“We’ll try to make it as quick as possible, sir. If you want to leave your daughter with…” He looks at Isabella’s parents, uncertain of how the aging seniors are connected to my family.

“My fiancée’s family,” I answer his questioning eyes.

“Yes, if you want to leave your daughter with the in-laws, we can get this done.”

“If you think I’m putting her down, after what she’s been through, then you’re crazy. You can either ask me your questions now and deal with this”—I nod at Madison, who is heaving with each sob as though her heart is truly broken—“or I can come down to the station tomorrow.”

The officer looks at me, then at Madison, then at his shoes. He twists his toe into the dirt path and sighs. “I’ll tell you what. My partner and I will meet you at the hospital in an hour. You go tend to your family, sir. But I do need to get your witness statement today, okay?”

Surprised at his sudden compassion, relief runs through me. “I do understand. Yes. Thank you, Officer.” I turn on my heel and head to the car before he has a chance to change his mind.