Finding a Hart Page 5

  “He’s going to end up with a feeding tube if he doesn’t start eating.”

  Otherwise, Chris was still doing very well. I stayed in the NICU until after two and hesitantly put the sleeping baby in his bed. I pressed my lips to his forehead and tugged his little cap over his head. When I looked up at Kara, she was smiling.

  “You need babies.”

  I sighed and walked over to where she was, taking one of the crackers she was eating when she offered. “Hopefully one day before my eggs are old and dry.”

  “Your boyfriend doesn’t want kids? If I had a girlfriend who looked like you did last night, I’d be trying to get her pregnant every ten seconds.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “Troy and I aren’t together. Not anymore. Last night was me being a good friend. We broke up last year.”

  “Oh, wow. I’m sorry,” she said with a frown but I shook my head.

  “It was a mutual thing and we’re still friends so I’m not sad.”

  Kara’s eyes twinkled and she nudged me with her shoulder. “Well, this is good news for me. I need more single friends. We can double date.”

  “The thought of dating scares the crap out of me,” I told her honestly. “I’ve only been out a handful of times since the break-up and I wasn’t overly impressed with any of them.”

  “I’m probably not the best person for this anyway. My track record kind of sucks.”

  We both laughed and stood off in the corner for a few minutes. We watched the other nurse and the few parents in the room before she washed her hands and proclaimed her break over.

  I peeked in on Chris one more time before waving to Kara and grabbing my stuff to head out to my car. I drove out to my childhood home and parked along the curb before walking through the front door. I was immediately accosted by a five-year-old little boy and his three-year-old sister.

  “How are my little monsters?” I asked as I dropped to my knees and hugged them both. Stella immediately held out her hand to show me the Band-Aid on her wrist.

  “Stephy. Look.”

  I inspected the princess bandage with wide, exaggerated eyes. “What happened to you?”

  “I falled.” Stella looked just like her mom, especially when she made that serious face. Her golden blonde hair was shoulder-length and her blue eyes were round on her little face.

  Her brother scoffed, looking more like his dad. He had the Gibson hair but his brown eyes were all Sinclair. His personality mirrored his mother’s, though- kindhearted and serious. “There’s not even a mark. Mommy says she’s a ‘rama queen.”

  I grinned at him and shrugged my shoulders. “Drama queens run in the family, Tanner. Be glad your mommy is giving you a brother rather than another sister.”

  After pressing kisses to both my niece and nephew, I walked into the kitchen and gave my mom a quick hug. She turned and smiled before going back to the dough she was kneading.

  “Hi, baby.”

  “Hey, Mama.” I grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and opened the fridge. “How are you?”

  “Good, good. Making some of your favorite- homemade tortillas. How was your week?”

  I let out a wry chuckle and shook my head. “Busy. How was yours?”

  She caught me up on everything that she and my father had done for the week before I asked if she needed help with anything. She shooed me out so I found my younger sister and her husband in the family room with my dad. I pressed a kiss to my father’s cheek before falling onto the couch so I could watch the football game on TV.

  My brother in law, Eldon, didn’t even look at me and I didn’t bother greeting him. Eldon Sinclair was my least favorite of the in-laws. Katelin was twenty-four, two years younger than I was, and Eldon had almost seven on me. The age gap didn’t bother me but Eldon acted like a child and had rushed my sister into having babies because he didn’t want to be too old when they were born. Tanner had arrived when she’d barely turned nineteen and she had turned into a baby making factory after that.

  They had met right after she graduated high school and all of her plans had gone by the wayside. She didn’t go to college and ended up being a stay at home mother who relied completely on Eldon. I didn’t have a problem with staying home with her kids, but it was the way her husband had basically put her at his mercy for everything. The only friends she had were her siblings and he liked it that way.

  I honestly wasn’t sure what she saw in him. He was okay looking, if you got past the crappy personality. He had a couple of inches on me, light-brown hair with matching eyes, and a decent build. There wasn’t a way to really describe him otherwise except the expression he always wore made him look like an idiot.

  “How are you feeling, Kate?” I asked as I rubbed her swollen stomach.

  My younger sister let out a long, exhausted sigh. “Tired. Five more weeks.”

  I cuddled next to her for a little bit and we chatted quietly as Dad and Eldon stared at the TV. My other little sister, Briana, showed up with her husband not too long after. Briana had just turned twenty-three and she and Marco married the summer before after being together all through college. Bri and I, despite having four years between us, were incredibly close and she was the one I could spill my secrets to without judgment.

  I loved her husband. He was a sweet guy and really cared about my sister. Plus, he was insanely handsome. Marco Romano was Italian through and through. He stood about six-feet tall and had hair so dark that it was almost black. His honey-brown eyes always looked kind and they went well with his olive colored skin. He was so good looking and it was only made better by his amazing personality.

  The last person to arrive was our little brother, Austin. He had just turned twenty-one and was engaged to his girlfriend, Rhea, who wasn’t with him when he walked through the door. He did, however, have my eight-month-old niece, Lila, on his hip and I promptly took her out of his arms.

  “Lila’s cutting teeth and has been kind of a nightmare lately,” Austin explained tiredly. “I told Rhea to stay home to try to get some sleep.”

  The four of us all had the same golden blonde hair and same blue-gray eyes, like the Stepford children, but Kate, Austin, and I were all taller than our five-foot-four mother, Kate and I by four inches and Austin by eight. Bri, on the other hand, had the same short stature as our mother. She also had colorful streaks, purple ones at that moment, running through her chin-length hair in an attempt to be different.

  We sat down at the huge dinner table and ate the enchilada casserole my mom had prepared. Everyone made small talk and I participated as much as possible. When Eldon started going on about how busy and important he was at the police station where he was a patrol officer, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. When I looked up, Marco and Bri were both suppressing their laughter.

  “Hey, Steph,” Austin said from where he was feeding Lila some rice at the end of the table. “Did you hear about that baby they found in the garbage?”

  I nodded and swallowed the food in my mouth. “That’s my case.” I paused and shrugged my shoulders. “Actually, I’m the one who found him.”

  “Really?” Bri asked with her eyebrows furrowed. “They’re saying he would have died with how cold it got overnight.”

  “Yeah. I’ve thought about that a lot,” I admitted with a shake of my head.

  Marco gave me a sympathetic smile. “How is he?”

  “He’s really good.” I couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my lips. “He’s super sweet, too. We’re releasing some information later this week to see if we can find any of his family.”

  My mom let out a squeal when I told her I’d be involved in the media announcement and said she would set the DVR to record. I entertained a few more questions without breaking privacy and was quiet through the rest of our meal.

  After we were done eating, I hung out on the floor playing with my nieces and nephew for a bit before I kissed them all and announced I was leaving. I accepted a thousand
hugs and some food for Alyssa before heading out to my car. It was dark, already after seven, as I drove towards our house.

  I found my best friend in the living room and she basically tackled me when she realized that I’d brought her food. We spent some time on the couch just chatting and watching TV and it wasn’t until eleven that I finally went back to my room to get my stuff ready for the next day.

  Chapter Five

  Stephanie

  The following week was insanely busy. I ended going out on a lot more home visits than normal thanks to the upcoming six-month employee evaluations that I had to do. I was putting in twelve hour days at the office and then spending a few hours a night at the hospital. It was probably a good thing that my coffee buddy was out of town because I was stretching myself thin as it was.

  Chris had me wrapped around his tiny little fingers. I didn’t know what it was about him but I was completely stuck on that baby. Maybe it was because he didn’t have a family of his own and needed someone or maybe I felt some sort of bond with him after finding him in that pile of trash, but if I wasn’t at work or sleeping, I was at the hospital.

  He was doing well for the most part but still wasn’t eating like he needed to be and had ended up with a feeding tube through his little nose. During my visit on Tuesday, Kara had talked me into undoing my blouse and resting him against my bare chest, telling me that skin-to-skin contact could do wonders for him. I felt a little awkward at first but the feeling quickly disappeared when he let out a content sigh. She wrapped a blanket around us both and I spent the rest of my time there with him curled up on my chest.

  Valerie and Kevin kept me up to date on everything. They had a hard time getting any surveillance footage that showed anything good and the restaurant Troy and I had been at were giving them a hard time about releasing their video without a subpoena.

  The DNA results had come back without any matches and by Friday, I felt like we were never going to get anywhere with the little guy. I was doing what I could to secure a foster home for him for when he was discharged from the hospital but my chest ached every time I thought about how he had been just tossed away.

  When Friday arrived and nothing new have been discovered in regards to the baby, I went into work wearing a grey pencil skirt, red blouse, and a pair of matching red heels. I had left my hair hanging straight at my shoulders but put a bit more make-up on than I normally would. The killer outfit didn’t help my nerves, though. I felt like I was going to be sick.

  I hated the thought of being on TV.

  “Damn.” Keon released an obnoxious wolf-whistle when I walked into the conference room. “You’re dressed to impress, Steph.”

  I rolled my eyes at sat down next to where Robin was already settled at the head of the table. “I figured dressing powerfully might hide how badly I feel like puking.”

  The crowd of fifteen around the table laughed out loud and Sable, one of the senior caseworkers, leaned over to squeeze my shoulder. “You’ll do awesome, Stephanie, but he’s right- you are working that skirt.”

  I offered her a quick smile and reached into the box of donuts at the end of the table when Robin started speaking. The caseworkers all gave us status reports and afterwards I listed off everyone who still had to be shadowed by me before the month was over.

  The meeting adjourned an hour later and I printed out the statement Robin had written for me before grabbing my bag. I waved to everyone and walked out of our small suite so I could head to the elevator.

  I drove to the police department shortly after ten. After I’d signed in and received my visitor badge, I walked through the familiar building until I found Valerie and Kevin’s desks. They both greeted me enthusiastically and Kevin gave me an approving nod.

  “You look really nice.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Does that mean sometimes I look less than nice?”

  “Women.” He scoffed as he looked to Valerie. “You guys can’t take compliments very well.”

  Valerie just laughed. “You’re too easy, Kev.” She gestured me over to the desk. “Just so you know what we’re showing today, you should look at this. We found usable images on the surveillance video from Brimstone’s security camera once they finally ponied it over. One of them pointed at the opening of that patio area, so we can’t see the baby being dumped but we can see this woman going in that general area. She also walked right in front of the doors so we got this.”

  Valerie held up a photo of a woman with brownish hair pulled up into a ponytail. She was wearing a really large coat and a pair of sweatpants. Her expression was wild, almost panicked, and I really didn’t like her already.

  “You think she left him there?”

  “Yeah.” Valerie nodded. “The angle we’re working now is parental abandonment. According to the timestamps, he had been there about three hours before you found him.”

  “There weren’t any DNA hits on the baby,” Kevin chimed in as he sat on the edge of Valerie’s desk. “At least no one in the system. We’re just hoping someone recognizes her after this and calls us.”

  I held up the statement Robin had prepared and that the department had already approved. “Well, mine’s pretty short and sweet.”

  Valerie and Kevin both read over my statement and I sat with them until it was time for us to go to the press room. The commander of the Family Investigations Bureau, Alice Murphy, was going to be giving the statement on behalf of the Phoenix Police Department. She was dressed in her formal blues and smiled when she saw me in the hallway.

  “Stephanie, how are you?” Alice was probably in her mid-forties and she was the first female police commander PPD had ever had. She earned the title and I respected her and the job she did.

  “I’m great, Alice. How are you?” I replied as I shook her hand. She just let out a long sigh and nodded.

  “At least this little guy will be okay. We have a chance at a happy ending.” She gestured to the room. “Just stand next to me and I’ll bring you in to give the DCS update. I’ll speak again after.”

  I nodded my head and inhaled a deep breath. When Alice began to walk through the door, she smiled and encouraged me to follow her.

  The room was full of reporters and Alice moved to a podium that had microphones set up all around it. I stood behind her, slightly off to the side. The reporters weren’t noisy like I’d been expecting, but instead the quiet hum of conversation filled the room. When Alice stepped up to the microphones, however, silence fell.

  “Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. On Friday, January tenth, a caseworker for the Department of Child Safety discovered a young baby on the patio of the abandoned club, Gold Spirit, on Seventh Street in Phoenix, Arizona. The baby, only identified as Baby Boy Doe, was just hours old and severely hypothermic. We have pulled surveillance footage from the area and are currently looking for this woman as a person of interest.” Alice gestured to the screen off to the side where the photo of the panicked woman was. “Anyone who has any information as to her identity or whereabouts is asked to come forward immediately. For an update on Baby Boy, I bring you Stephanie Gibson, a social worker assigned to Prevention and Support within the Department of Child Safety. She is also the person who made the discovery of the child.”

  Alice stepped back and gestured me forward. I cleared my throat and looked to all of the people and cameras nervously.

  “Hello, as Commander Murphy said, I am Stephanie Gibson with DCS. At approximately nine in the evening on January tenth, I discovered Baby Boy Doe in a pile of trash outside of Gold Spirit. When he was discovered, the temperature had fallen to forty-four degrees and he was in nothing but an old towel. He was cold, hungry, and weak from exposure. Baby Boy was rushed to the hospital immediately. He has responded to treatment and is considered to be out of danger at this time. It is imperative that we find his parents so we can determine if he has any other health risks we need to take into account at this time. Thank you.” I looked to Alice a
nd stepped back, a rush of air leaving my lungs as I did.

  Alice took questions about the investigation and the baby. Someone had asked if he would be placed in foster care, to which Alice looked at me and I nodded. The next person asked if he’d be placed up for adoption after a certain amount of time, and I stepped forward to claim that we’d cross that bridge when we got there.

  Alice wrapped up the press conference and I was really happy to leave that room. She pat me on the back and told me that I’d done well, but I wasn’t in a hurry to see myself on TV.

  “Okay, I’m going to retreat back to the shadows,” I declared as I grabbed my bag. Both Kevin and Valerie nodded and it was the latter who spoke.

  “We’ll let you know if we find anything out.”

  I nodded and hugged them both before heading out to my car. It was warmer than it had been the day before, a little more than sixty degrees, and the sun felt good on my face. I went back to work and spent the rest of the day doing welfare checks with Rachel. When we made it back to the office, it was already after five and I packed my stuff up to head home for the night. Instead of actually going home, though, I drove towards the hospital.

  Once I was buzzed into the NICU, I washed my hands and left everything outside the door. I pushed open the door and Kara immediately grinned at me.

  “I saw you on TV. You did great.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “That was gross. I never want to do it again.”

  “You’re working that outfit.” She gave me a once over and winked. “It must be nice to wear clothes that accentuate your shape every day.”

  “You look hot in those scrubs, Kara.” I gave her a serious look as I went over to Chris’s bed. His eyes were open as he stared to his left at nothing and I immediately smiled.

  “Hey, sweet boy.” My fingertips ran across his forehead and he just wiggled in his bed. “How’s he doing?”