The door opened and he looked up in time to see Jade step into the doorway. She must have come from work because she was wearing black dress pants, heels and a clingy red sweater that was precisely the same shade as her flawlessly applied lipstick. Her blond hair was slicked back into a bun, highlighting her delicate bone structure as she smiled at him. She looked poised, professional and absolutely stunning. He wasn’t sure his heart could withstand this version of his high school sweetheart.
“Are you going to come in or just stand out there in the cold?”
“I haven’t decided,” he replied. “Your dad still got that shotgun?”
Jade looked to her right and nodded. “Right here by the door as always. I doubt he’s keen to use it on you any longer. You’re safe to come in.”
Harley climbed the steps and leaned close to her, drawing in her scent before whispering into her ear. “If he knew the things I did to you back then, he’d shoot me on the spot.”
Jade’s eyes widened as she took a step back. Her pale skin flushed pink as her lips tightened a bit with amused disapproval. “Best you keep that to yourself,” she noted. “Come on in and have a seat. I’ll get them both.”
Finding himself alone in the living room, he realized not much had changed inside the house, either. The furniture was the same, although the old tube television in the corner had been replaced with a new flat screen. There was also a large framed portrait over the desk of Jade on her wedding day. Unlike the one at her house, this was just her. Her back was turned, showcasing the lace and buttons that traveled down her spine into the intricate train of her dress. She glanced over her shoulder with a coy smile that made him wish she’d been gazing at him that day instead of Lance.
“Look who the cat dragged in,” a man’s voice boomed from behind him, distracting him from his unhelpful thoughts.
Harley turned around to find a softer, graying version of the Arthur Nolan he remembered. This one didn’t glare at him with disapproval, putting Harley slightly more at ease. He smiled and reached out to shake her father’s hand. “Good to see you again, sir, although I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“Don’t I know it,” Arthur said with a serious expression. “This has been really hard on Carolyn, and Jade, too. You can’t imagine something like this happening to you.”
“I’ll do everything I can to find the answers for your family.”
Arthur nodded and patted him on the upper arm. “Good, good. Let’s have a seat. Carolyn is going to be a minute. She’s fussing with some coffee.”
Harley sat down in a wingback chair that faced the sofa. Arthur sat there, leaving a space for Jade’s mother beside him. A moment later, Jade came in with a tray of mugs, cream and sugar. She put it down on the coffee table between them and took a seat in the chair beside Harley. Carolyn followed with a carafe of hot coffee and poured everyone a cup.
“I know it’s late in the day, but it’s so chilly, I thought we needed something to warm us up.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Nolan.”
Carolyn looked up at him with a wide smile as she appraised what had become of the boy who had once graced her doorstep. “I think you can call me Carolyn now, dear. You’re not a teenage boy sniffing around my daughter any longer.”
Harley smiled back and nodded, but there was something in her eyes that made him question her words. There was a curious curl to her lips as she looked him over, then glanced back at her daughter. It made him wonder if perhaps Mrs. Nolan didn’t think he was such a bad match for Jade, after all.
Interesting thought, but she was wrong.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to record this interview. It will allow me to focus on the discussion now instead of taking notes, and I can go back and do that later.”
Her parents nodded. He started the recorder on his phone and placed it gently on the coffee table between them. “So tell me about the day you checked in to St. Francis to have your daughter.”
“It was chaos,” Carolyn began. “Everyone was waiting on the storm to hit. Arthur was nailing wood on the windows and sandbagging the sliding door to keep out the water. We’d stockpiled some supplies, and did everything we could do to prepare. And then I went into labor.”
She shook her head. “I had another week to go. I thought for sure we’d get through the storm, but no, Jade was ready.” She looked at her daughter and a pained expression came across her face. “Well, not Jade. Our biological daughter. It’s so hard to come to terms with all of this. I can’t think about the baby I raised and not think it was the same Jade in my belly all that time. Who would do such a thing?”
Harley noticed tears glittering in Carolyn’s eyes. Tears weren’t his specialty, but he could cope. He’d learned he was better at keeping interviewees focused than he was at consoling them. “I understand this is hard for you,” he said. “Just go over what you remember about your time at the hospital.”
Arthur put his hand over Carolyn’s and squeezed it. “We made it to the hospital before the storm hit,” he continued. “We had a few hours to go and were worried about a long labor, since it was our first baby, but our daughter arrived rather quickly and without a fuss if you don’t count me fainting. It’s hard to believe, but having a baby was the easiest thing about that day. About two hours later, the power went out. The wind picked up. All hell broke loose. Since the nursery didn’t have any windows, they recommended that the babies stay there for their own safety. It broke Carolyn’s heart because she’d barely gotten a chance to hold the baby before she was taken away. Maybe if we’d spent more time with her...”
Harley hated to hear the Nolans blame themselves. He didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it wasn’t anything they did wrong. “Don’t beat yourself up about this. From what I understand, newborns all look very similar, especially in those first few hours. It takes time for their individual features and personalities to come out. You went through a lot that day and had no reason to question the staff.”
Arthur nodded, but Harley could tell he still blamed himself somehow. “After the storm went through, things weren’t much better. There was only emergency power. Most of the staff was downstairs in the ER. There were only maybe two or three nurses working the whole maternity ward and I’d say there were easily nine or ten mothers there at the time.”
“Did any of the staff or people you saw at the hospital seem off to you? Anything at all strike you as odd?”
Carolyn furrowed her brow in thought. “Nothing other than the hurricane. The staff were stressed out but they seemed really focused on keeping everything afloat. There was even one nurse, I forget her name, who sat and chatted with me for a while. She was so sweet. I can’t believe I can’t remember her name now. But everyone was great. Did you notice anything, Arthur?”
He shook his head. “Everyone seemed to be coping. That’s all anyone could do. If anything seemed strange, I chalked it up to that.”
“How long was it until you got to really spend time with Jade?”