The Redhead

The nurse looked up at the boss, "Dick, she's going into shock; I've got to get her home."

"I'll give you a hand," he replied. He looked at the attorney. "Sorry, Wyatt, I know you have a ton of questions for her but they'll have to wait."

"Yeah, no problem, Dick. Let me know though as soon as I can talk to her. I'll need that DNA test to confront the hospital and force them to investigate and find whoever has her baby, but I can't do any of that until I'm officially engaged as her attorney."

"I'll let you know as soon as she's ready to talk," O'Connor responded. He hit the intercom button for his secretary. "Louise, get me Linda's home address and write it down for me. I'm going to take her home." He looked over to Charlotte who still had Linda cradled in her arms. "We'll go in my car. I'll drive so you can keep comforting her." They grabbed the address on the way out, and with the help of his car's GPS, had her home in no time.

Ellie had just put the baby to bed for his nap when Dick O'Connor and Charlotte came in, supporting Linda on both sides. She put her hand to her mouth as she burst out in fear, "Oh my God, what happened? Is she hurt?"

"Where's her bedroom?" grumbled O'Connor.

"Upstairs, on the left."

Her boss and the nurse continued to support Linda as they helped her to her room. After getting her in bed, O'Connor asked the nurse if there was anything else he could do.

"Yeah, can you run to the nearest drug store and get some Benadryl for me?"

He was a little confused. "Benadryl, isn't that for allergies?"

"Yes, but it's also a mild sedative. It'll help calm her down."

"Okay, on my way," he answered. As he turned around a worried looking Ellie was standing in the doorway.

"What's wrong with her? Is she going to be all right?"

"Are you her mother?" Ellie nodded without taking her eyes off of her daughter. "Why don't you come with me? You can show me to the nearest pharmacy."

"I... I can't leave the baby."

"Charlotte is a registered nurse. She can look after him until we get back," he countered. Linda's boss used the trip to the drug store to explain why her daughter was in shock, and he didn't pull any punches. "Terry is not Linda's baby," he told her flat out.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean her baby was switched with someone else's in the hospital. That's why her asshole husband's DNA didn't match."

"Hey," she said in a raised voice, "Spencer is not an asshole. How do you know the babies were switched?"

"I had Linda take a DNA test. It showed the baby wasn't hers."

"Well, how was Spencer supposed to know?"

"The point is, he didn't care enough to find out; none of you did. From what I understand, not one of you believed her when she said she'd never cheated, not one member of her family. If I were her, when this is all over, I'd tell every one of you to go to hell."

As they pulled into the parking lot, he looked over at Ellie who was dabbing her teary eyes with a tissue from her purse. "Coming in?" he curtly asked. She just shook her head. Except for Ellie's weeping, the ride back was made in silence.

By the time they got back, Charlotte had her patient undressed and in bed. She gave her a dose of Benadryl then left her to rest while they went downstairs. "She shouldn't be left alone tonight," Charlotte told Ellie. "Can you stay, if not, I will."

"No, no, I'll stay with her," Ellie eagerly responded. "I'll call my husband and have him come over, too. I... I feel so bad; we should have believed her."

"If you had, you might have been able to catch this a lot earlier. She's had almost a year to bond with the child, now only to find out he's not hers. I can't even imagine the emotional trauma she's going through. It's got to be almost like losing a child." O'Connor made no attempt to hide his anger.

Again, Ellie was going to try and defend the three of them. "Mr. O'Connor, no one even thought about something like this happening."

"Of course not, you all just immediately decided she was lying and never even tried to explore other alternatives. Don't try to make excuses to me, I'm not buying it." He turned to his nurse. "Come on, Charlotte, let's get out of here before I say something nasty."

Ellie jumped on the phone as soon as they left. "Don, I need you to pack an overnight bag for the two of us and come over here to spend the night."

"What, why, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

Ellie wasted no time explaining what she knew when Don walked in. She made a pot of coffee as they quietly talked in the kitchen. Don was full of questions that Ellie didn't think to ask. "So, what happens now? Does she have a lawyer? I assume they're going to try and find her real baby. What if they don't find him; will she still have to give Terry up?"

"Honey, I don't know. That Mr. O'Connor was very mean to me and I didn't even think to ask all that."

"Why was he mean to you?"

"Because we didn't take Linda at her word when she said she didn't cheat. He figures we should have believed her and we should have been the ones to find the truth, not him."

Don sighed, "He's right, we should have believed her. You think she'll ever forgive us?"

"I don't know, honey. I think she blames Spencer more than us. He thought of the DNA test to see if he was the father but never thought to have Linda take one, as well."

"Have you called Spencer yet, does he know?"

"Not yet, he'll still be at work. I thought I'd wait until we talked to Linda. She might want to tell him herself."

"Yeah, good idea."

Linda never did wake up that night. They debated whether or not to wake her for dinner but decided she probably needed the rest. By the time she awoke the next morning, Terry was playing in his crib as she stumbled by on the way to the kitchen. Both of her parents were sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. She looked at her dad on the way to the counter to pour one for herself. "What are you doing here?"

"Good morning, honey. I came over yesterday in case you needed me. I heard what happened. Your mom and I are so very sorry, Pumpkin." He hadn't called her pumpkin in years.

"In case I needed you," she sarcastically chuckled. "A little late for that, don't you think?"

They were both feeling very sheepish and let her comment slide. Ellie contributed to the conversation. "Honey, as soon as you're up to it, you should call Spencer."

"Why?"

"Well, to tell him what's going on, of course. He needs to know. I'm sure once he knows the truth, he'll pack his bags and be back here before you know it."

"What makes you think I want him back?"

"Oh, Linda, please, don't be like that. Yes, we made a terrible mistake, but we all love you."

She didn't even acknowledge her mother's statement. Instead, she took her coffee and went back upstairs to her room without another word. She took a shower before calling into work. She was already more than two hours late.

When her boss heard she was on the phone, he picked up immediately. "Good morning, Linda, how do you feel?"

"Like I've been run over by a bus," she replied with a small chuckle. "Thank you for getting me home, Mr. O'Connor. Please tell Charlotte I said thank you, as well."

"I will, Linda. Are you able to think a little more clearly, now?"

"Yeah, but I, ah, I don't know what to do. Terry has been my son for almost a year. Maybe... maybe we should just let it go. I mean, whoever has my son probably..." She stopped in mid-sentence when she heard what she was saying. "No, I... I can't do that. I have to have my own son."

"Yes, you do, Linda. There are other considerations to take into account, too. Your family's medical history, your husband's as well. I know this is going to be extremely difficult for you, but you're lucky we discovered it when we did. A while back I read about a case similar to yours, but they didn't learn of the mix-up for four years. Imagine how traumatized a couple of four years olds would be to lose the only parents they knew.

"Terry and your son are young enough that it won't be a major disruption in their lives. I suspect it'll take a week or two for them to get used to new surroundings and bond with their new parents, but it won't take long."

"I know you're right, Mr. O'Connor, but it's going to be so hard to hand Terry off to someone else."

"I've had three kids, Linda; I can't even imagine how hard that's going to be on you, but it has to be done."

"I know," Linda replied, trying not to break down again. "So, what do we do now?"

"Are you going to be well enough to talk to that lawyer I had here yesterday?"

"Yeah, yesterday was just such a shock I couldn't process it. I guess I just shut down. I'm much better today, but Mr. O'Connor, I can't afford an attorney, and I can't let you pay for anymore. I don't know what that test costs, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap."

"Linda, Wyatt's a good man. He does all of our corporate legal work. I talked him into taking your case on a contingency basis."

"You mean he wants to sue the hospital?"

"Of course."

"Oh, Mr. O'Connor, I can't sue them, they were so nice. They even gave us a steak dinner with Champagne when we left."

"Linda, they may have been very nice but they were also negligent. They screwed up—big time. Their carelessness has caused you, your husband, and even your parents a lot of grief and emotional suffering, and it's not over yet. They have to be held accountable so they're more careful in the future; otherwise, other couples might wind up going through the same thing you're going through now.

"They also need some incentive to find your son as quickly as possible. The longer this goes on, the worse it'll be for everyone.

"Look, Linda, because we discovered this as quickly as we did, Wyatt doesn't think they'll settle for more than two or three hundred grand and he's going to take forty percent, but whatever you get can be put into an education trust fund for your son."

She thought about that for a moment. "Wow, it would be nice to have his college education paid for."

"Yup, and in the meantime the money will sit there gaining interest so when he's ready, there should be more than enough to pay for his education with some leftover that he can use to get off to a good start in life."

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Good, now, what about driving? Do you think you can keep focused on the road or should I get someone to drive you around today?"

"You know what, my dad is here. I'll let him drive me around. I'll have him drop me off at my car later so I can drive it home."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea. Now, I also looked into getting you some therapy to help you deal with all of this. I checked with our insurance, and it's completely covered, so I got a recommendation for a psychotherapist."

Mr. O'Connor gave Linda both numbers. She thanked him profusely before disconnecting, then called and got an appointment with the attorney for later in the day. She decided to wait a while before calling the therapist.

Linda sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath. She had nothing to do for the next four hours but sit and contemplate what it was going to be like to hand little Terry over to strangers. Will he cry, she wondered? That question led to more. What are the other parents like? Are they taking good care of her son? Will they be willing to give him up? Should she keep the name they gave him, or change his name to Terrance? Of course, she realized, that's the name on his birth certificate, it'll have to be his name.

"What are you thinking about?"

Her mother's voice startled her. She hadn't seen her standing in the doorway. "Nothing," she answered.

"Will you come downstairs and eat something? You haven't had anything to eat since lunch, yesterday, you must be starving."

"Yeah, okay, I'll be down in a minute," she answered. This time she couldn't just walk past Terry's crib. She stopped, bent down, and picked him up in her arms. Tears flooded her eyes as she put their cheeks together and just rocked him back and forth in her arms before kissing him. "I love you, little man. I love you so much. Handing you over to someone else is going to be the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," she wept before putting him back down.

Her parents witnessed the scene from the kitchen. It was going to be hard on them, as well, but their hearts went out to their daughter.

She asked her dad if he could drive her around, and of course, he was more than willing. Both he and Ellie knew they had a lot to make up for and fully committed to supporting their daughter, no matter what from then on.

At two o'clock, she was escorted into Wyatt Asher's office and offered coffee while her father stayed in the waiting room. The attorney showed genuine compassion for his client and asked how she was doing before getting down to why she was there. Linda's first question was how long before they'll make the switch?

"That's a hard question to answer, I'm afraid. It could be a couple of weeks or it could be a year or more. There are a lot of factors involved."

"A year?" she gasped.

"I doubt it'll take that long, but there is a possibility. The first thing I have to do is contact the hospital's administration. Even faced with the irrefutable proof of the test, they'll of course deny it, then refer it to their legal department. They will verify the test and be forced to launch an investigation. How long that takes depends on a lot of things: how many babies were born on the same day as yours, their ethnicity, where were they from. Were they from around here or were some from out of state? Once they get it whittled down to the most likely possibilities, they'll have to contact the parents and ask them to voluntarily submit their baby to a DNA test. If they refuse, the hospital will have to get a court order. Once they've found the couple that has your son, what will be their attitude? Will they hire a lawyer? Will they willingly make the exchange, or will it take a court order?"

"Now, where does the relationship with your husband stand? Have you told him yet?"

"No, I know I'll have to tell him sooner or later, but for right now, he can just piss up a rope for all I care," she angrily stated.

"I understand, believe me. Has he filed for divorce yet?"

"Not as far as I know, but he said that's what he was going to do."

"If he hasn't filed by now, I doubt that he will under the circumstances. What about you? Do you see room for reconciliation?"

"I honestly don't know. Before this, he was always such a good husband, kind, thoughtful, loving... then..." She didn't finish her thought. Instead, she reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue to dry her eyes.

"Linda, in his defense, sometimes we're just too close to a situation to see all the possibilities or make smart choices. Our emotions take over our brains. Your husband, what's his name, Spencer?"

Linda nodded.

"Try to put yourself in his place, try to imagine the hurt and pain he felt when he thought you cheated on him. You know yourself what a shock to the system can do to a person's thinking.

"I can't tell you what to do, but I think at the very least, you need to tell him what's happening. He has a right, a legal right, to be involved."

They finished the meeting with her signing an agreement to have him represent her. From there, her dad drove her to the insurance company to pick up her car. She stopped in and thanked her boss again and told him where everything stood. She volunteered to go back to work the next day, but he told her to take the rest of the week off, which meant she had the next four days to herself. When she got home, her mother was setting the table for dinner.

"Well, the lawyer says I have a legal obligation to inform Spencer of what's going on, so dad, can you call him on your phone and ask him to come over tonight. I don't think he'd answer if I call him."

"Oh, honey, I doubt that," her mother commented.

Linda just sighed in exasperation. "Can you just call him, please?"

"Yes, of course, honey," her dad answered.

"Don't tell him what it's about yet. He can find that out when he gets here." The anticipation of dealing with Spencer had Linda on edge. Just thinking about it brought her anger to the surface again. Her parents hadn't noticed, but she locked the front door before sitting down to eat. She was going to make sure he had to ring the bell and be let in.

Don's call was worrisome. Spencer had no contact with Linda since walking out and asked immediately if she or the baby had been hurt. Don assured him everyone was fine. He told Spencer that he and Ellie were at his house and they had some news, but he didn't want to discuss it over the phone.

In response, he asked Don the first question that came to mind. "Did she tell you who the father is?"

"Spencer, please, just come over after supper, about seven-thirty or eight would be great, please, this is very important."

"All right, I'll be there," he said before hanging up. He still hadn't filed for divorce. He wasn't sure why. He surmised he must be waiting for a miracle, one that would somehow make everything right so he wouldn't have to file, then he scoffed at the possibilities. No, he just needed time to get used to the idea of spending the rest of his life without Linda.

When he approached the front door later that night, he was about to just walk in like he was used to doing, but stopped and rung the bell instead. His mother-in-law let him and offered him a cup of coffee. When he saw everyone sitting around the living room, he figured he was in for an intervention. Everyone was obviously going to gang up on him and try to persuade him to move back in and accept another man's baby as his own. They were going to be disappointed, he thought to himself.

He assumed Linda would start but she just sat there with a scowl on her face while her dad opened the proceedings. "Spencer, we have some shocking news, Terry is not your baby, the..."

"That's your shocking news?" Spencer interrupted, "I..."

"Spencer, please, shut up a minute and let me finish." It was Don's turn to interrupt. "He's not Linda's baby either. The hospital made a mistake and switched babies with someone else."

The entire room was silent for a few moments while everyone waited for it to sink in. Spencer looked around at everyone who was staring back at him. "Come on..." he said bouncing his stare from one person to another, "hospitals don't make mistakes like that. How do you know?"

Don continued, "The same way you knew he wasn't yours: she took a DNA test. It showed she had nothing in common with the baby."

A sudden wave of guilt hit him like a sledgehammer as he looked into the angry face of his beautiful wife. "I'm so sorry," he sadly told her. "I... I don't know what to say. I never even thought of something like this. All I could think of was that you must have cheated on me. Linda, I am so very, very sorry. I should have believed you."

She didn't answer him. She hadn't spoken a word to him since he walked in, and she had yet to break her silence. She just shot flaming arrows at him from her eyes.

He felt about two feet tall. He was receiving her message loud and clear. She was extremely pissed at him and he didn't blame her, but questions started penetrating through the fog of his brain. He looked over at Don again. "So, what do we do?"

"What do WE do?" Linda barked. The tone of her voice literally startled him. "I thought you extricated yourself from the situation. You're divorcing me, remember?"

"Honey, I'm sorry, I really am. I never gave anything like this a thought. I'm obviously not going to follow through with the divorce."

"Oh, so you're going to leave THAT up me, too," she snidely remarked.

"What, no, what do you mean?"