She took the baby from Emily and after looking him over, nodded. “Yes, this is him.” She protectively held him. “When did he last eat? It’s supposed to be his nap time right now!” She sounded indignant and practically snatched the diaper bag out of Joaquin’s hands.
Dewi nearly burst out laughing. “He’s been well-cared for, don’t worry.” She returned Hannah to Emily. “Please verify that’s Hannah.”
Emily lifted the hem of her little T-shirt and pointed out a small birthmark. “It’s her.” She started crying again as she held her against her shoulder. “They didn’t hurt her, did they?” she asked Dewi.
Catarina looked indignant again, and Dewi wearily touched the woman’s shoulder and told her to calm down and quietly converse with the mom. Five minutes later, Catarina was setting Emily up in one of the back bedrooms to nurse Hannah, at Catarina’s insistence. Catarina was concerned about Hannah because she hadn’t been able to get the baby to take as much formula that, in Catarina’s opinion, Hannah should have taken.
And Catarinadefinitelyhad opinions when it came to the well-being of babies.
Well, at least she wasn’t in danger from this woman.
When Catarina returned to Dewi after getting Emily settled, she scowled. “I knew those cans of formula Henry brought weren’t right for that baby!” she hissed at Dewi. “Pendejo! Something told me when the little one didn’t want to take a bottle that she was being breast-fed, and it was wrong that they didn’t bring any bottles or pumped milk with her! Iwilltell that man off when I see him!”
“Well, you won’t be seeing him for a while,” Dewi said. “Or Fawny. They’re both probably going to jail.”
Catarina sharply nodded. “Good! I never have liked that man. Or that…woman.” She threw a murderous glare toward Anthony, who had the good sense to cower from her, too.
Meanwhile, Dewi had Catarina sit at the table with Cordoba while they waited for Emily to finish nursing Hannah.
Joaquin leaned in. “What do we do?” he whispered to Dewi.
“About what?” Dewi asked.
He motioned, indicating all the babies. “This is illegal as fuck.”
“Yeah, but they look well-cared for and clean. They’re obviously not being abused or neglected while in her care.” She waved Joaquin closer to the table, where Dewi stood next Catarina and laid a hand on her shoulder to Prime her. “Who are most of your parents?” she asked. “These children. What do their parents do for a living?”
Even with Dewi using Prime the woman looked hesitant to answer, so Dewi added, “We’re not with INS, and we’re not with CPS. No one’s in trouble. Just tell us the truth.”
“Most of their parents are undocumented workers,” she admitted. “They pay me cash. Or sometimes food. Or even diapers, and I can give those to other parents. Whatever they can pay.” She burst into tears. “Please don’t shut me down! I just want to take care of them! I have the best job in the world—I get to play with babies all day, and their parents have a safe place to bring them!”
Dewi Primed her to calm down again, her own mind swirling.
Best job in the world, huh?
And here she was, kvetching that her own job—which she honestly thought was the best job in the world—was being impacted by her impending motherhood.
She looked at Joaquin and shook her head. “We’renotshutting them down,” she said. She then put her other hand on Cordoba’s shoulder, and just as she was about to speak she spotted the blood sugar tester on the kitchen counter.
“Catarina, who’s diabetic?”
“I am. I was born with it. That’s why I can’t have children.”
“Okay. You never saw the three of us here today. Anthony, forget you even know Fawny. She’s just using you. And she’s probably in jail right now anyway. Lose her number and block her on all your social accounts. You had an episode of low blood sugar while at work today and it really screwed you up and somehow, you ended up getting dropped off here by friends.”
Joaquin snorted. “Wow. That’s generous. What about the chase?”
Dewi looked at him. “Are youhelping? Make yourself useful and go swap the carseats. Get Emily’s out of the Saleen and put it back in hers, and bring the other one in here and leave it.”
He rolled his eyes but went to do it.
Dewi returned her focus to the cousins. “Anthony, friends stopped by work to see you because they said you were acting strange this morning and they thought you were sick. You ran from them but it was all due to your blood sugar being way out of whack.” It wasn’t Dewy’s best work, but considering how her day had gone already she was done worrying about it.
“Catarina, you never saw Hannah, or Emily. Or us. Henry and Fawny were never here today, never brought a baby girl, and they didn’t take Eduardo. Everything was calm today. Normal day, except Anthony showed up out of the blue. Friends dropped him off, you didn’t see who, and you were worried he was drunk or high until you had a suspicion, checked his blood sugar, and realized it was out of whack. Then you got him straightened out and he had no memory of how he got here or which friends dropped him off. Both of you will delete any and all texts from your phones from or about Fawny, Henry, and Hannah. Do that now.”
They did.
Dewi was just finishing up with them when Emily emerged from the bedroom with Hannah and Joaquin returned from his chore.
