Chapter 11 - Life

Pulling up outside of the house, Cam leapt from the car and all but ran straight into the house. “Michelle?” She could hear Darcy crying upstairs. She wasn’t screaming anymore though, just that whimpering sound a baby makes when they want something but can’t tell you. “Michelle?” Cam took the stairs two at a time until she was at the top and racing to their bedroom. “Maria?” She looked quizzically around the room for her wife. “Where is Michelle?”

Shaking her head, Maria stood up with Darcy in her arms. “I don’t know. I was in the kitchen, I thought she was having a nap after her family left, but when I go to check I see she’s not here.”

“What? I just spoke to her…” Cam tilted her wrist and checked her watch. It hadn’t taken her that long to get back “When did you last see her?”

Maria passed the baby over to Cam, her crying now a little more subdued. “Maybe 20 minutes ago. I come in and hear little miss here crying and fussing, but I don’t react. I know Michelle, she is with them and it’s not my place to interfere. So, I carry on with dinner and still she screaming, and it’s loud. I worry then, in case Michelle have another fall. So, I go upstairs and she no here.”

Cam pulled Darcy more tightly to her and rocked her. “Shh, come on, it’s all okay.” She walked across the room to Noah. He lay there looking up at her, kicking his feet and gurgling away to himself. “How are you two so different, huh? And where is your mummy?” She pulled her phone from her pocket and searched for a number.

“Hello?”

“Caroline? Can you come over?”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. It’s urgent.” She put the phone down before Caroline could question her. Putting the phone back into her pocket, she reached into the crib and lifted Noah out, carrying them both downstairs with Maria following. “Can you watch them until my sister gets here? I am going to go and walk along the beach, see if I can find her.”

“Of course, you go,” she said, taking Noah. They walked into the living room, where two wicker bassinets lay side by side on the couch. Cam gently lowered Darcy into hers. “I think she is hungry. Will you… There should be milk in the… Michelle always expresses, so…”

“Sí, sí, now go.” Maria shooed her out. “We do just fine.”

Outside, Cam ran her hands through her hair, looked left towards Santa Monica and then right, further along into Malibu. She had no idea if Michelle even came out here, let alone in which direction she may have turned. Deciding right, because it was quieter, she set off, jogging along the shoreline, water and wet sand kicking up in her wake and caking the backs of her legs, her eyes scouring the beach up ahead. She didn’t even want to consider the other place Michelle could have walked: into the ocean.

She ran for maybe fifteen minutes before her lungs felt like they would burst. There was no sign of her. The loud ringing of her phone in her pocket made her jump, and she reached for it quickly, almost dropping it in the sand in her haste to see if it was Michelle. It wasn’t.

“Caroline, is she back?”

“No, Cam what is going on? Maria said Michelle just left...”

Catching her breath, Cam turned back and walked as quickly as she could. “I don’t know. She called me, she was upset about Darcy again, and when I got back, she wasn’t there. I’m heading back now. Can you call Mum?”

“Yes, of course.”