felt his gut twist.
“This is the kind of mistake every parent dreads. One I dread. Someone in the nursery put the wrong band on the wrong babies. It is a terrible thing to have happened.”
“How did you find out?” Giovanni’s voice grated.
“One of the mothers came to the hospital with questions about her baby. He didn’t look like her or the father. We had her DNA tested with her baby’s DNA. The result proved that the baby couldn’t be her baby.”
Shock brought Giovanni to his feet. “Are you saying the baby I took home isn’t mine and my ex-wife’s?”
“No. We’re having DNA tests on every baby boy that was in the nursery before this particular mother went home. Your baby is the last one on the list of eight we need to check. If you’ll go to the lab, a technician will draw your blood and the necessary tests will be done along with your ex-wife’s and son’s blood to prove paternity. We need to do this process immediately so the babies can be returned to their rightful birth parents before any more time goes by.”
“Let’s do it now,” he bit out, horrified that Vito might not belong to him after all. He thought of all the parents involved. Sixteen people were traumatized by the realization that their sons might have been one of the two to be switched. He swallowed hard. Was it Vito?
“I’ll walk you to the lab.”
They left the office together. “How long will this take?”
“In three days we’ll know all the facts. The lab is rushing everything. Believe me when I tell you we’ll move heaven and earth to make this right.”
Giovanni grimaced. “Nothing could make it right.”
“I know, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am this has happened.”
The administrator was taking this hard, as he should. Giovanni sensed that. But the thought of having to give Vito back to another set of parents was unbearable. If that happened, it meant his birth son was out there somewhere. Giovanni couldn’t imagine having to give up the precious son he’d taken to his heart. But if his birth son was out there, naturally he couldn’t wait to see him and hold him. This was a nightmare of impossible proportions.
After the blood was drawn, he flew back to Ravello. The second he entered the kitchen, Stanzie took one look at him and let out a cry. “What has happened to you? You’re as white as a sheet!”
He looked her in the eye. If the impossible had happened, this was going to be hard on her and Paolo, too, not to mention his whole family and Violeta. Everyone was crazy about Vito. “There’s a possibility that the wrong baby was sent home from the hospital with me.”
“No—” She put her hands to her mouth.
“In three days I’ll know the truth.”
Tears rushed down her cheeks...the same invisible tears he’d shed from the moment the administrator had explained his reason for the unexpected call. While he stood there in agony, she rushed out of the kitchen, no doubt running to tell Paolo the dreadful news.
Giovanni hurried through the villa to the nursery. Vito was awake. The minute he saw Giovanni, his arms and legs grew animated. His love for this child went so deep it could never be rooted out. He changed his diaper before carrying him to the terrace that overlooked the Mediterranean, where the scent of the roses was especially strong and sweet.
He kissed his cheeks. “I couldn’t possibly give you up, Vito. We’re going to forget that a mistake was made. You belong to me.”
“SIGNORINA MONTANARI?”
Valentina recognized Signor Conti’s voice. She gripped her cell phone tighter. “Si?”
“We have located your baby, even without the birth father’s DNA. The DNA tests have proved that the baby you took home is a match for the blood tests of the couple whose baby was born on the same day as yours.”
“Oh, no—” she cried out in pain. So it was true. The babies had been switched.
“I’m so sorry, signorina. You have no idea how terrible I feel about this, too. It should never have happened.”
She wiped her eyes that kept dripping. “How was it possible?”
“I’ve learned that they were born within ten minutes of each other. After a full investigation is carried out, we’ll learn the reason why the babies were tagged with the wrong mothers.”
“Don’t you know I’m dying inside?”
“Of course you are. That’s why you need to be united with your son as soon as possible.”
“And give up the one I already love?” she cried out in anger.
“Signorina—”
Weak from emotion, she sank down on one of the kitchen chairs. Valentina had been waiting for this day, yet dreading it. She felt guilty over her fear that she’d see the baby she’d given birth to and she wouldn’t love it the way she loved Ric. It was a horrible thing to admit to herself, let alone her family.
Her birth baby had been loved and taken care of by another mother who had to be going through this same agony. The pain was so unbearable, Valentina could hardly breathe.
“Signorina?”
“I—I’m here.” Shock that this day had come made her slow to respond. If she hadn’t pursued this—if she hadn’t said anything, then she wouldn’t have to give up this little boy she adored. Her heart was torn into pieces.
“Since time is of the essence, if you can be at the hospital by noon with your baby, then the exchange can take place and your birth baby will be turned over to you. You need to be united with him as soon as possible.”
She moaned. “I’m devastated, Signor Conti.”
“I have no doubt of it. Do you have someone to help bring you to the hospital? You need to come to the outpatient entrance. When you sign in, you’ll be told where to go.”
“I—I don’t know if I can do this.” It took a minute to quiet her sobs. “Will I be able to talk to the mother who has been taking care of my baby?”
“It’s not hospital policy.”
“But that’s cruel!”
“I’m sorry, but we have to treat this like a closed adoption process. Everything sealed. Your privacy has been insured. The other parents don’t know your name, and you don’t know theirs.”
“I understand the legalities, but there are little things they should know about Ric.”
“Of course. Why don’t you write down your routine and any medicines and formula you’re using, anything the other parent needs to know.”
Sobs
