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here at least until she’s been seen by
FACS. Cheryl promised me she’d drop by to see her today. We can’t
let the poor girl leave with a new baby without doing something to
help.”
    Marjorie’s expression turned grim. Slowly
and methodically, she folded the paper and then, with a heavy sigh,
she turned to Georgie. “I’m sorry, Georgina, you’ve misunderstood
me. Cynthia Dawson’s baby died last night. It was very sad and
unexpected, but as you know, these things can happen. The girl is
understandably upset, but otherwise in good health. She’ll be
discharged this morning.”
    Georgie’s heart pounded. She stared at her
mother in shock, trying hard to take it in. Cynthia had given birth
to a healthy little girl. Georgie had run the newborn tests on the
baby herself. They’d all fallen within normal ranges. There had
been no indication there was something wrong, and she’d told the
young mother so. She shook her head, trying to come to terms with
the news the infant was dead.
    “H-how… How did it happen?” she
stammered.
    Her mother shrugged. “Who knows? The baby
was taken to the nursery late last evening so Mom could get some
sleep. Four hours later, someone checked on the child. She was due
for a feeding. The baby was found in her in the crib, cold and
unresponsive. CPR was performed, but to no avail. We’d lost
her.”
    Marjorie’s voice hitched on the final words
and Georgie’s heart clenched in pain. The baby might have only been
a few hours old and Georgie barely knew the little girl’s mom, but
knowing the infant had died so suddenly and without explanation…
This was the part of her job she hated.
    “Who was on duty last night?” she asked
quietly.
    Her mother’s gaze sharpened. “Preliminary
cause of death is SIDS, Georgina. Nobody is attributing blame.”
    Anger flared to life inside her. “I’m not
blaming anyone, Marjorie. To the contrary, I wanted to offer my
commiserations to the staff involved. I can’t imagine how they must
feel.”
    Her mother’s expression softened marginally.
“Rosemary Lawson and Tammie Sinclair were on duty. Rosemary found
the baby.”
    Georgie absorbed the news somberly. “I’ll go
and see Cynthia,” she said, her voice dull. “She must be
distraught. She might have had a tough life, but she loved that
little baby. She would have been a good mom, if she’d been given
the chance.”
    Marjorie sent her a pointed look. “She’s
sixteen, Georgina. What sort of life could she have given a child?
I hate to say it, but the death of this baby might be a blessing in
disguise.”
    “No!” Georgie protested on a gasp. “How can
you say such a thing? It’s not our place to judge.” A couple of the
other nurses nodded in agreement, looking just as distressed as
Georgie. Marjorie eyed each of them solemnly.
    “I want you all to listen to me. We work in
a hospital. Not everyone gets to go home. It’s tough, and every
single time it happens, it’s hard to accept, but we have to because
we’re nurses and that’s what we do. We try our very best to help
the sick get well, but sometimes, no matter what we do, it doesn’t
work out that way.”
    “That baby wasn’t sick, Marjorie,” Georgie
said quietly, staring at her mother.
    Her mother held her gaze and replied just as
quietly. “Apparently, she was.”
    Tears burned behind Georgie’s eyes, but she
frantically blinked them away. What her mother said was right. They
were professionals—nurses who gave it everything they had—but every
now and then, they lost one.
    The thought of little Josephine, dying in
her crib, all alone, filled Georgie with so much sadness, she
wanted to find a quiet place to cry, but this wasn’t about her. She
had to pull herself together and tend to Cynthia’s needs. As awful
as Georgie felt, Cynthia had to be feeling a hundred times worse.
It was up to Georgie to give her comfort and understanding and
whatever else the poor girl required. She refocused on