Erica Spindler - Cause for Alarm

He stood and looked over his shoulder at her in question. "It's my mess," she said. "I should help…clean it up."

He thought about it a moment, then inclined his head. "What do you propose?"

He bent to retrieve his pants from the floor, stepped into them, then reached for his gun.

Julianna saw her opportunity. Her last opportunity. She grabbed the lamp and swung. It connected with the back of his head with a sickening thud. The gun slipped from his fingers.

He straightened and looked at her, his expression registering surprise, then understanding. She swung again, as hard as she could, grunting with the effort. The lamp base exploded against his head. Pottery shards and blood flew in every direction.

As if in slow motion, John fell to his knees, then toppled face first to the floor, square on top of the gun.

Julianna stood above him, shaking, what was left of the lamp dangling from her hand. She couldn't tell if he was breathing; no way was she going any closer.

She let the lamp slip from her fingers. "That's what I propose, you sick bastard."

Kate awakened with a start. She sat up and looked around her, disoriented. She'd come home from the funeral and after getting Emma down for the night, had poured herself a big glass of wine and sat on the couch. She must have fallen asleep.

She glanced at the baby monitor to make sure it was on. The power indicator light glowed; a comforting, red beacon in the otherwise dark room.

Kate stared at it a moment, listening. No sound came from her daughter's bedroom. Reassured, she sank back against the cushions. She brought her hands to her face, acknowledging fatigue. Despair.

It was over. The funeral had marked the end. Not only to Richard's life, but to her own as well. The one she had known for more than ten years, the one with Richard, the one in which she had been a happily married woman. Content. And confident. Of her place in the world. That she was loved.

Suddenly, Emma whimpered, then cried out, the sound sharp and frightened.

The monitor crackled, then went dead.

Kate froze momentarily, then alarm exploded inside her. She scrambled from the couch. Her foot knocked into the glass of wine, toppling it, sending red liquid spilling across the white rug. She ran for the nursery.

She reached it in moments. A cry ripped from her lips. A figure stood beside her daughter's crib, bent over it. At her feet sat the diaper bag, stuffed to overflowing.

"Get away from my baby!"

The woman spun around. She had Emma in her arms, a hand pressed over her mouth to quiet her.

Even in the minimal illumination cast by the sole night-light, Kate recognized the woman. "Julianna? What do you think you're doing?"

The woman removed her hand, and Emma's cries shattered the quiet. "This isn't what it looks like, Kate."

Kate inched carefully toward the younger woman, uncertain what she would do, afraid for Emma's safety. "Give me my baby."

The infant heard her mother's voice and turned toward her, her cries becoming frenetic howls.

Julianna took a step backward. She shook her head. "You don't understand. He's coming! He means to-"

"Give her to me!" Kate stopped before her and held out her arms. "You're scaring her."

Julianna hesitated. In that moment, Kate saw her grip slacken and she snatched the infant from the other woman's arms and spun away from her. She held Emma to her chest, rocking and cooing. The infant quieted, her cries becoming distraught, hiccoughing whimpers.

"Haven't you done enough?" Kate asked, her voice low, vibrating with emotion. "You stole my husband and now you want my child, too?"

"You don't understand," she said again, wringing her hands, glancing nervously at the Pooh Bear wall clock.

"John's coming. He-"

"I don't know any John. How did you get in here?"

"The key in the false rock. Beside the side door."

Dear God, that's how she had gotten in before. "I'm calling the police."

Julianna grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Don't do that! You can't. You have to-"

"My husband is dead. He wouldn't be, if he'd been home." Kate shook off her hand. "Get out of my house. I want you away from me and away from my child."

Kate left the nursery, hurrying toward the living room. When she reached it, she flipped on the overhead light. The phone lay on the floor beside the toppled wineglass and ugly red stain.

"Emma's life is in danger."

Kate stopped dead. She looked back at Julianna, taking in her tear-streaked face and stained, rumpled clothing. Kate focused on the stains, suddenly realizing what they were. Blood.

Kate widened her eyes, suddenly truly afraid. For her daughter's safety, for her own. "Oh, my God."

"John's coming. He means to kill Emma."

Tightening her grip on her daughter, Kate took a step backward. "Get away from us."

Julianna held a hand out. It, too, was splattered with blood. "I have to protect her."

Kate shook her head, heart thundering, mouth dry. "You're crazy. Unbalanced. You're-"

"I'm Emma's birth mother."

Julianna's words hit Kate squarely in the gut. She stared at the other woman, stunned, numb, her world rocking.

"What…did you-"

"I'm Emma's-"

"Shut up!" Kate shouted. "You're lying. You have to be!"

"I wanted to have an abortion," Julianna began, voice shaking. "But I waited…too long. One week and three days too long.

"The doctor," she continued, "he showed me pictures of babies at my stage of development. They were… they-" She looked at Kate, eyes pleading for understanding. "I didn't know. I promise I didn't."

Julianna drew in a shuddering breath and dragged her gaze away from Kate's. She crossed to the couch and sank heavily onto it. "The doctor asked me to consider adoption. He told me about Citywide. It seemed a perfect solution. My only way out."

Kate lowered her gaze to her daughter, tears flooding her eyes. Richard had been sleeping with Emma's biological mother. The thought made her sick.

"Did he…know?" she asked, tears choking her. "Did Richard know you were-"

"No. I didn't tell him." She looked at her hands, then back up at Kate. "At first I thought I'd surrender Emma and disappear. But then I…I read your profiles. Richard's…profile. I fell in love with him."

Kate stared at the other woman, not believing what she was hearing. "You fell in love with my husband from his…because of what he had written?"

"Yes." Julianna hugged herself. "He was everything…everything I'd always dreamed of. But I didn't just fall in love with him." She lifted watery eyes to Kate. "I fell in love with you, too. With your marriage, your lives."

"So…you decided to steal them? Instead of making your own life, you decided to steal ours?"

For a moment, Julianna hung her head. Then she lifted it and squared her shoulders. "I gave you Emma. You wanted to be a mother more than anything. You said so in your profile. In return for Richard, I gave you Emma."

What could she say to this young woman? Thank you? She looked at her as if Kate should not only understand, but that she should even approve. "How did you find us?" she asked. "Ellen assured us that no identifying information would be exchanged without our consent."

"I stole it. From a file on her desk. She doesn't know."

Dear God, Kate realized, she had been right. About the break in, the missing photograph, the girl on the swing. All along, it had been Emma's birth mother.

"So you followed us," she murmured. "Found a way into our lives, Richard's life. And you seduced him."

The younger woman leaned forward, her expression earnest. "He didn't want to be unfaithful to you, Kate. He wasn't that kind of man. But we were meant to be together. We were each other's destiny. Each other's soul mate."