Carson shivered when she touched him. It was like someone had placed a smoldering hot iron against his skin. Hesitantly, he rested his hand on hers. He felt her ring rub against his and his heart stopped again.
“Dale, please look at me.”
He turned around slowly, each second praying that he wasn’t dreaming. Ellie took his hands and placed his open palms on her wet face. “See I told you I was real.”
“How do I know you aren’t Ellsa pretending to be Ellie?”
She smiled kissing his inner wrist, “I think you would know if I was a usurper. Especially since I have your middle name, the one you hate so much, tattooed on my waist with musical notes around it.” She laughed, “I’ve never been an ink person, but like they say, you are doomed to pick up your spouse’s bad habits.”
Carson laughed and hugged her tight against him as he cried, chanting her name. He cradled a hand full of her curly hair and held it to his nose. He breathed in the coconut scent that used to drive him crazy. But right now, the annoying scent served as a confirmation that he had his wife back.
Ellie hugged him back, glad she was back in his arms. “Kris told me what was going on. I can’t believe she didn’t tell you.”
“Who?”
“Ellsa. We spoke every week. To think I trusted her.”
“What?” The entire time she was pretending to comfort him, with one phone call she could have ended his suffering.
“She said it wasn’t safe to call, that your team was conspiring to use me as a pawn to protect Gwen. She said the two of you found evidence that she was trying to set me up.”
“What?” Gwen hollered.
“Don’t worry, I already told her the truth.” Paloma offered quickly.
Ellie looked at Gwen. “I’m sorry I didn’t know. All this time I stayed away, she made me believe it was for my own good,” she turned back to Carson, “I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
“That Ellsa!” Carson hissed, between clenched teeth. “Where is Stacey-Ann?”
“Downstairs with Seth. We were a little apprehensive about bringing her up, just in case Ellsa was right.” Kris answered, “But she has another surprise for you. Show him the surprise!” She chimed excitedly.
Ellie shyly looked away. She wasn’t nervous about coming home, but after having the wool pulled away from her eyes, she’d become extremely nervous. She took another deep breath.
Carson put a finger under her chin and lifted her head up, “Tell me, what’s wrong?”
“There is nothing wrong! Tell him!” Kris spat out, impatiently.
“I ah… I…,” the words were stuck in the knots in her stomach and then she felt it.
“Wow,” Carson flinched, “You stomach just kicked me!”
“I’m going to be a godmother! Finally!” Kris announced.
Ellie shook her head, “Yes, that’s the big news. Kris is finally going to be a godmother.”
“Aah!” Audrey screamed, jumping up and down. Kris joined her, dancing around in circles.
“You are pregnant?” Carson whispered.
She nodded. When he just stood there looking at her, saying and doing nothing, she punched him in the stomach. “You can’t do that to me twice Dale Carson!”
“This isn’t like last time. You didn’t just arrive from New York, you came back from the dead, pregnant! I need a few minutes to process!”
“You have five seconds. I need to know what you are thinking.”
The dress had hidden it well. He placed his hand on her belly. It was like gripping a basketball! “How far along are you?”
“Twenty six weeks.”
“Wait, you were pregnant when you left?”
She nodded, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She held down the loose dress to expose the big bump. “When Richard asked me about my blood at the crime scene, that’s when I got suspicious.”
“Did Ellsa know?”
She nodded. “I told her when we were in the lobby downstairs.”
Kris stopped her dancing, “That’s why she dragged you away. That little bitch!”
“That’s why she made them disappear,” Richard spoke out of her ear shot.
“Do you think she’s the killer?” Doran asked.
“It would explain why it stopped all of a sudden.”
“And she did try to play on Carson’s grief to her advantage.” Kevin added.
“And someone called me a heartless bitch,” Gwen spoke, walking away, “I’ll get the uniforms on her.”
Ellie spoke up impatiently, “I’m still waiting for an answer Dale. Are you okay with a second baby?”
He smiled, shrinking a few inches to reach her lips, “The more the merrier.” He kissed her, his lips taking advantage, after missing hers for such a long time.
She giggled, “This is the last one. One of each, remember?”
Paloma tapped her on the shoulder. “Sorry to interrupt but, did you just say you are having a boy?”
“Yes. Dale Carson the third!”
Paloma gave her a kind smile, “Congratulations. One more question, did you tell your sister this?”
“Yeah. The moment I got into town, I called and told her.”
“That you are having a boy?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh no,” Kevin whispered, from behind the couple. The rest of the team marched back to the elevators.
“Who drove you here Ellie?” Richard asked. The urgency in his voice made her uneasy.
“Ellsa’s bodyguard. Why? What’s wrong?”
“And where is he now?” He asked, rigorously pressing the down button on the elevator.
“Downstairs with Seth and Stacey-Ann.” when Carson dislodged himself from her and ran for the stairway, she got even more uneasy. “Will someone tell me what’s going on “Paloma and Doran stay here with Ellie. The rest get downstairs, as fast as possible!” Richard jumped into the elevator the second the doors open, Kevin rushing in after him. Gwen took off after Carson.
Carson ran eight flights down. He pulled his safety gun from his ankle and rushed into the lobby. Seth was on the floor bleeding from his shoulder. And lying next to him was Stacey-Ann’s diaper bag.
Carson grabbed the security guard, “Where is the little girl he was holding?”
“Her mother took her.”
He shifted his hold to his neck, “And you let her!”
“She said she’d been kidnapped and the guy she was with said he was the father! What else was I supposed to do?” That answer earned him a hard clout.
“You do know this is a federal building!”
Carson had just found out his daughter was still alive, and now the stupid security guard had handed her to the woman who stole her in the first place!
Kevin and Richard wrestled Carson off the security guard.
Gwen ran back into the building. “I’m sorry Carson, they are gone.”
“No, no, no, no!” He yelled, tossing the decor around until there was nothing left to toss. He sank to the ground his head in his hands. “What am I going to tell Ellie?”
“Tell me what?”
His eyes rose to look at her.
“Seth!” Kris screamed, as she ran to him. The paramedics were rolling him out of the building on a gunny. “What happened?” She cried, getting on board the ambulance.
Carson got off his feet and moved to Ellie, tears in his eyes.
Sensing what he was going to say, Ellie moved away from him, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered.
“No.”
“Ellie…”
“No.”
The moment he held her, a pained scream left her lips. And after a few minutes of crying, she passed out in his arms.