Hard Choices
      Chapter 14
 

“Carmen, I need your help.”

Carmen sneered, “You’ve come to the wrong place, Michelle. You’re the last person in the world I would help with anything … not that I’m in any position to help anyone from in here.”

Michelle ignored her remarks and continued her plea. “It’s Danny, Carmen. No matter how much you hate me, I know you still love your son. He’s in serious trouble, and I think you’re the only one who can help him.”

“My son has turned his back on me and turned my daughter against me. My children have made it perfectly clear to me that they don’t need, or care about, me, so whatever trouble Danny’s gotten himself into – over you, I assume, as usual – he’ll have to get out of it all by himself. Good-bye, Michelle.” Carmen started to hang up the receiver.

Michelle jumped up, slapping a hand on the glass. “Carmen, wait!” Carmen reluctantly returned the phone to her ear. “Danny was shot last night –”

“Shot? Who – How is he?” Carmen’s face softened with concern, and Michelle thought she could see a glimpse of the genuinely loving mother Carmen had once been.

“The last time I saw him, last night, he had just come out of surgery, and the prognosis was good. But he was kidnapped from the hospital after I left, and I don’t know if he’s being cared for properly, or where he is – I have to find him, Carmen.”

“Michelle, this isn’t making any sense. Who shot Danny, and who kidnapped him?”

Michelle took a deep breath and told Carmen the entire story. I have nothing to lose, she thought, and Carmen is probably the only person who can help me get Danny back.

When Michelle had finished explaining the events leading up to Danny’s kidnapping, starting with the deal Danny had made with Bernardo, which had resulted in Carmen’s current imprisonment, her mother-in-law’s face had reassumed its usual mask of contempt. “Of course, it’s because of you that Danny’s in this situation. I’m not going to help you find him, Michelle. Danny is probably safer, and better off, with Theresa than he would be with you.”

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Michelle lost control of her emotions, and her words. “Damn it, Carmen, this is not about you and me! It’s about Danny’s LIFE! Danny and I love each other, we’re committed to each other, and if that hasn’t changed after everything you’ve thrown at us, don’t you think it’s time you accepted it? Theresa is not rational, she’s angry and out of control and desperate, and I don’t know what she’s going to do to Danny. I’m terrified of what she may already have done to him!” Michelle paused. There was one part of the story she had left out, and she hoped it was going to serve as her trump card with Carmen. “Carmen, I’m pregnant. I’m carrying Danny’s child, your first grandchild. This baby can be a new start for the Santos family, for all of us. If you help me, I promise you that you will be a part of our child’s life, and Danny and I will stand by you, help you with an appeal, and welcome you back into our lives when you’re released. Just, please, help me bring my baby’s father home. Please.”

“A baby. Danny’s baby.” Carmen said wistfully, gazing not at Michelle, but at some point on the wall behind her. Then she shook her head and looked her daughter-in-law in the eye. “Alright, Michelle. I would certainly rather see my grandchild raised by you and my son together than growing up fatherless in the Bauer house. We’ll get Danny back. Here’s what you need to do …”

The pain in his side was growing sharper and he felt feverish. Danny was certain he had an infection, probably at the site of his wound. This was not good. If he continued to weaken, he might never be able to get out of here, and Theresa was so delusional, she seemed to believe that her love – or rather, the sick, twisted obsession that she called love – was all Danny needed to be “healed.” She spent hours at a time at his bedside, rambling endlessly about every detail of their long-ago high school romance.

“We were so happy, Danny, and I know we’ll be that happy again. As soon as you’re a little better, we’ll go somewhere warm and sunny – Cancun, maybe – and get married on the beach, and …”

“Theresa, I’m still married to Michelle. You know that.”

“Stop saying her name! I told you, it’s time to forget about her. She doesn’t matter.”

“Okay, you’re right. But, Theresa, I’m not getting better … I’m getting worse. I need a doctor, I need to be in the hospital, really –”

“Oh, Danny, you’ll be fine!” She mopped his brow, beaded with sweat from the fever, with a washcloth. “I’m taking good care of you. What you need right now is to be with me, so we can re-connect, just the two of us, without any interference from the rest of the world.”

Danny felt another blossom of pain in his side and groaned. “Theresa, I need help. You have to take me back to the hospital.”

Theresa smiled sweetly. “We’ve been over this, Danny. We are not leaving this room until I’m sure that you love me as much as I love you.”