Page 18 of Baby Me

“Something is terribly wrong with my daughter and instead of helping her, you’re having me arrested?”

The officers escorted me out of the office via a back door, no doubt to keep me from making a scene in the lobby. “I need a phone call. I need to call my lawyer,” I demanded.

The male officer laughed, as if someone like me couldn’t have a lawyer on retainer. He’d be right if I didn’t work for one.

“You’ll get the opportunity to do so once you’re booked into the system.”

It took twenty-four-hours to get me out of jail and back home, but my daughter still wasn’t there with me. She was in an undisclosed foster home, where she would remain, until our court date.

“Okay, sweet girl, don’t worry, we’re going to get her back.”

“But what’s happening to her in the meantime? She was already so bruised. I don’t even know how it keeps happening. What if she’s placed in a home where they hurt her more? What if…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I couldn’t bring myself to think of the fact that my daughter could die or be killed and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I promise you, I’m working with the child advocate right now to make sure that she is doing well and getting the care she needs, instead of her medical concerns being ignored the way they have been. And when I’m done with everyone involved in this case, you and your daughter won’t have to worry about anything again. I promise you that. They messed with the wrong family, dammit!” Mr. Avery was red-faced when he finished his tirade.

“Go calm yourself, honey. I’ll sit with Davina while you get everything sorted and check in on Coral.”

Gloria, Mr. Avery’s wife, was a Godsend on a normal day and her angel wings were showing as she wrapped her arms around me and held me together. “I need her to be here in my arms. Why are they doing this to us?”

“That bastard saw Medicaid and assumed a whole lot about a poor, single mother bringing in an infant with bruises all over her body. He’ll rue the day he made the mistaken assumption that you could ever hurt that precious baby of yours. My husband will see to it that he can’t afford to practice in this state any longer.

Mr. Avery came back into the room a few hours later. I’d only just dozed off from exhaustion when I heard his muffled voice as he explained something to his wife. Her startled gasp is what finally pulled me to full consciousness.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a sleep-roughened voice.

“I have some news,” he stated ominously.

“What happened? Is she okay? Where is my baby?”

“She’s in the hospital right now.”

“Noooo!” I moaned. “What did they do to her?”

“Nothing, Davina. The woman fostering her was startled to see fresh bruises after Coral was put down for a nap, and she took her into the hospital and explained the situation. She went against protocol and contacted me directly because she wanted me to know that she didn’t think you had anything to do with it and the doctors agreed with her. Dr. Jenkins happened to be doing rounds in the hospital.”

At my blank look, Mr. Avery sighed. “Dr. Jenkins specializes in pediatric oncology.”

“Oncology?” I asked.

“He handles pediatric cancer patients, Davina.”

His voice was so soft when he relayed that information to me, but it sounded like someone just blared an alarm in my ears. “W-what…” It was all I could get out.

“He is running some tests, but they think that Coral might have a form of cancer, a type of leukemia, and while it’s rare for one so little to have it…”

Any further explanation was lost on me as I openly wept for my daughter whose life had already been such a struggle. She would never know her father because I also didn’t know who it was. She would never have any family beyond me and the Averys who had sort of adopted us. And now, my precious baby girl was sick, and I stood accused of abusing her when I’d just been trying to get her the help she needed.

“Give her a minute,” Gloria said as she came and wrapped me in her embrace once more.

“I need to see my baby. Please, tell me I can go see her now,” I begged.

Mr. Avery nodded at me. “I’m working on that. Dr. Jenkins put in a call to Judge Reynolds and is attempting to explain the situation. The charges should be dropped soon. The doctor feels it is impeding your daughter’s health to have been ripped away from a parent who obviously cares a great deal about the child’s health.”

“I should be by her side now. She must be so scared. What are they doing to her? They’re supposed to have my permission to do anything. They’re supposed to consult with me about her health, not a strange woman neither of us knows. Why is it okay for a stranger to make those decisions for my daughter, but I got arrested for trying to help my baby?”

I couldn’t stop the sobs from wracking my body. Everything felt raw and I’d never felt so helpless in my whole life. It had sucked giving birth to my daughter all alone, but that was nothing compared to this. I’d just been told she might have cancer and I couldn’t even be there to comfort her and make sure she knew she was loved every minute she drew breath on this earth.

“I need to be with my baby,” I whined again.

---