XXIX
~*~
"Is there a problem?" Dr. Mason asked as he entered the room.
Lindsay looked up and gave Justin a sidelong glance. "He's a little
worried."
Justin shrugged. "Can you blame me?"
Dr. Mason chuckled. "Let's just have a quick look Lindsay," He said.
Lindsay reluctantly agreed and Justin and Alexandria moved off to the side
to give the doctor room. Justin went back outside to check on Theresa. He found
her wandering the hallways in thought. "Theresa?" Justin called softly. Theresa
looked up and smiled. "Things okay?" She asked.
"Perfect." Justin said. "Thanks for getting the doctor."
"You're welcome." Theresa said.
"I want you to meet her." Justin said.
"I'd be honored." Theresa replied. Justin held the door open as Theresa
entered. She followed closely behind Justin. Dr. Mason was still examining
Lindsay, so Justin decided to introduce Theresa to the detective. "Ms. Gray,
this is Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane. She accompanied me on the trip here."
"Nice to meet you." Alexandria replied as she shook
Theresa's hand.
"Nice to meet you." Theresa smiled warmly. Lindsay looked up and curiously
glanced at Theresa. Dr. Mason turned as well and was shocked at the resemblance
between Theresa and Lindsay.
"Hello," Theresa said giving the two individuals a small wave.
"This is Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane." Justin said introducing Theresa to
his wife and the doctor.
"That's certainly a mouthful." Dr. Mason replied good-naturedly.
"It is, isn't it?" Theresa laughed.
Lindsay smiled. "Theresa, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to finally meet you. Justin talks so highly of you. He is in total
awe of you." Theresa told Lindsay.
Lindsay blushed. "Thank you. I'm so lucky to be married to a wonderful
man." Lindsay's eyes began filling with tears. "I'm so very lucky." She
whispered hoarsely as she wiped at her eyes. Justin quickly sat beside his wife
and enveloped her in his strong embrace. She leaned against him and sighed.
Dr. Mason looked from Theresa to Lindsay. "Are you two sisters?" He asked.
"Who? Lindsay and I?" Theresa asked baffled.
"Yes," Dr. Mason said confused. "Why? You aren't?"
"Oh no," Lindsay spoke up. "She and I are not related in any way."
"I could've sworn you were." Dr. Mason said.
"Same here. You two look very much alike." Alex agreed.
Theresa smiled at Lindsay. "Sisters huh?"
Lindsay returned the smile. Justin chuckled. "Maybe that explains why I
befriended Theresa in the first place."
"How exactly did you two meet?" Lindsay asked curiously.
"Long story," Justin rolled his eyes.
"We'll tell you sometime." Theresa chuckled.
"Would you still like for me to talk about what happened?" Alex asked.
Justin nodded. "Please,"
Theresa found a vacant chair as Lindsay and Justin sat in the hospital bed.
Alex stood the whole time as she explained the facts of the case. "Let's see,
where to begin?"
That day, Lindsay had visited the doctor to confirm her suspicions. For that
past week Lindsay had been having morning sickness. She took a pregnancy test
and found it to be positive, but Lindsay did not want to tell Justin the good
news until she had visited a doctor. That morning, Lindsay secretly paid a
visit to Dr. Johnson who told her the happy news. She was going to have a baby.
Overjoyed, Lindsay thought about making a special dinner to celebrate. She was
planning to tell Justin the good news during the dinner. Lindsay told her
husband that she was going to go to the store, and after asking him to fix the
sink, she was off.
The drive to the store was filled with thinking of different ways to break the
news. Lindsay wondered how Justin would react. She smiled as she rubbed her
stomach. Her baby was still extremely small, but Lindsay knew it was there. She
already felt a connection between her and her still developing child. In high
spirits, Lindsay shopped for ingredients for the special dinner. After making
her purchases, Lindsay walked quickly to her car. The next moments changed her
life. Out of nowhere a masked individual roughly grabbed her and whispered in
her ear menacingly. "You better walk to your car. We're going to make a little
trip." Scared out of her mind, Lindsay obeyed the requests of the masked
person.
Lindsay worried about what would happen to her and her unborn child. Most of
all she worried that she would never see her husband again. Tears slipped out
of her eyes as Lindsay thought that neither she nor her child would ever see
Justin's face again.
Theresa wiped her eyes as she watched Justin admit to his wife how he was
driven to the point of insanity not knowing what had happened to her. "Eight
months," Justin admitted. "Eight months of my life I felt lost. I felt broken.
It was a nightmare"
Lindsay cupped Justin's face in her hands. "The nightmare's over." She said
quietly. "I'm here with you now, and we're going to have a baby."
"Who kidnapped you?" Justin asked.
Lindsay watched the world pass by through the window of her car. She watched
the sceneries changed continuously as she wondered where they were going and if
they were going to harm her. The car eventually stopped in a secluded wooded
area. The masked person, obviously a male, gruffly requested for Lindsay to
exit the car. She did as she was told, and wondered if she should try to
escape. Before Lindsay could do anything more, the man tied her hands together
and forcefully led her to a cabin. Dread filled Lindsay's heart as they inched
closer towards the cabin. Peering through the darkness that surrounded them,
Lindsay looked ahead and saw another person shuffling around. She was tempted
to shout for help, but Lindsay realized that the person was probably helping
the individual who was leading her farther away from her husband and home in
Harmony.
The man whistled in the darkness. The outline of the figure Lindsay came
closer. Lindsay gasped when she realized the identity of the person who stood
before her. It was the nurse from the clinic.
"Bring her inside, and be careful," The nurse said in a hushed tone. "We don't
want the baby to be harmed in any way."
"Okay," The man responded.
Lindsay looked in disbelief at the nurse. She desperately tried to remember her
name. "Why am I here?" Lindsay demanded.
"Why do you think you're here?" The man snarled angrily.
Lindsay glared at the couple. "Stop that," The nurse hissed. To Lindsay she
said a little more gently, "It's simple really. We want your baby."
"Excuse me?" Lindsay said. "You-you want my child?"
Justin balled his fists tight. "They kidnapped you because they wanted our
baby?"
Lindsay nodded. "They took good care of me, but they said that after the baby
was born they were going to kill me because they were afraid I would turn them
in."
"Unbelievable." Theresa murmured. "How did you end up here?"
One night, Lindsay had complained that she was hungry. The nurse whose name was
Rebecca Hunter and her husband Roy Hunter usually fulfilled Lindsay's request
for certain types of foods. So, naturally they decided to go to the store. By
this time, Lindsay's picture had been posted in different parts of the country,
but no one ever spotted her since she was hidden in a secluded rural area of
Illinois. Lindsay begged to go to the store with them, but Roy refused.
"Someone might recognize you."
"Who would recognize me?" Lindsay asked. "I don't even know where we are."
"No." Roy said firmly. "No way in hell I am letting you leave these grounds."
Rebecca looked at them tiredly. "Let her go with you." She yawned. "I can't
keep an eye on her. I'm too tired."
Roy shook his head. "No! Have you gone crazy?"
Rebecca glared at Roy. "Just take her. We're out in the country anyway, and
besides look at her. Even if she decides to run, she wouldn't get very far with
that huge stomach."
Reluctantly, Roy let Lindsay accompany him to the store. Roy told Lindsay to stay
in the car as he went inside to get her what she wanted. Unthinking, Roy left
his keys in the ignition.
"So when he went inside, I waited for a couple of minutes before I took the
driver's seat and drove. I stopped at a police station where I told them that I
had been kidnapped."
"Police were immediately dispatched to the area where Lindsay was held hostage.
Roy and Rebecca were put under arrest and booked at the Chicago Police
Department."
"Wow." Theresa said.
"You're telling me." Justin mumbled.
"Can we go home?" Lindsay asked as she leaned into her husband.
"Most definitely." Justin replied.
~*~
