I nod, repeating the directions in my head over and over in my head until I find a bay of elevators, picking one on the red side that has an A painted over them.
The doors open and I squeeze on with my bag and two nurses and two men. They make room for me and I apologize when my bag runs over one of the men's loafers as I get situated.
The elevator shakes and groans as it moves and I think about what would happen if it got stuck. Would we climb out of the top? Pry the doors open between floors and try to climb out?
What if the whole thing just free falls? I wonder if that theory about jumping just before it hits the bottom has an validity to it, or if that's just a silly rumor.
I don't have to think long on it before the doors open again, releasing me.
I scramble out of the elevator and over the nurses station in front of me.
"Hayden Maxwell." I tell the first person I see. "I'm trying to find my sister and her baby? Alice Maxwell?"
The nurse looks up at me with confusion but another woman walking by behind me stops, turning to come to the desk beside me.
"Miss Maxwell?" She says and I turn to the short plump woman standing beside me. She's got graying hair and a clipboard in her hands. "I've been trying to reach you."
I furrow my brows then huff, digging in my pockets for my phone. "Shit, sorry, I forgot to turn it back on when I landed." I tell her. The concerned look on her face though gives me pause. "Is everything ok?" I ask, suddenly feeling like I should be nervous. "Is Alice ok?"
The woman straightens and touches my arm. "Oh, yes, she's fine." She tells me quickly and I sigh.
"Ok, good." I breathe, releasing the tenseness in my shoulders.
"Let's step in here to talk." She waves me forward, across the hall to a small room with three chairs and a tiny table in the middle. "Have a seat."
My nerves are back.
I sit down, watching her as she sits across from me.
"What's going on?"
"Everything is fine." She tells me first, crossing her legs. "Your sister and the baby are both doing ok."
"Ok." I nod, waiting.
She suddenly looks a little frazzled.
"So since we talked yesterday, your sister has given us some new information." She explains. "She gave us the name of the father and we were able to track him down. He lives here in Dallas. We contacted him and he came in earlier today." I nod along, still not getting it. "The hospital has released her into his care."
"My sister?" I scoff. "She doesn't need to be with some boyfriend, she needs to be-."
"No." She cuts me off. "Your sister is still under the care of the hospital right now. I'm talking about the baby."
I furrow my brows. "So she's..." I stall. "You let her go with him? Do you even know anything about him! What if he's an addict too? You just let some random man take a baby?"
"Well, Miss Maxwell, he is the babies father." She says gently.
"As far as you know."
"The hospital did confirm he was the biological father before she was released to him." She tells me quickly.
"But I thought you called me because you wanted to place her with family?"
She gives me a look. "Well, yes, and her father is family."
