The Back-Up Plan by Debra Webb

driveway. She leaned back against the headrest and relaxed for the first time that day. The electrician had finished at the clinic but the news wasn’t good. He had wanted to install a complete new breaker box, but Donna just couldn’t afford it, so he’d done the best he could with the old system. He couldn’t promise anything, as far as how long it would hold out. All she needed was enough time to get her head above water. She’d spent the afternoon touring the local hospital, which was thirty miles away, and meeting several of the county’s prominent physicians.
    The sound of a car pulling up next to hers roused Donna from her doze. Patty. Donna smiled and got out of the car, anxious to give her daughter a hug and, she quickly reached back into the car for the plastic bag, the goldfish she had picked up at Walmart. She sent up one last silent prayer that Goldie here would make Melissa forget all about a dog.
    “Hey, Sis, what’s up?” Patty asked from across the top of her sedan.
    “I just got back from the hospital tour in Winchester.” She scanned Patty’s car for her child. “Where’s Melissa?”
    Patty stared at her in confusion. “What do you mean? Isn’t she with you?”
    Fear slid through Donna’s veins. She shook her head. “I thought you were picking her up. I left a note at the clinic.”
    Patty’s face turned a whiter shade of pale. “I haven’t been to the clinic today,” she said thinly. “I picked the girls up early for dental appointments.”
    “Sam?” Donna offered hopefully. “Would the school have called Sam at work?” Panic clawed at her throat.
    Patty shook her head. “He’s out of town today.”
    “Oh my God!” Donna jerked her car door open.
    “Wait!” Patty skirted the hood of her car. “If the school couldn’t get in touch with you, they’d call me. Let’s check my machine. My cell died an hour ago.” She pulled Donna toward her porch. The water and the goldfish sloshed in its plastic prison.
    “I should have called you before I left,” Donna muttered, fear twisting her insides. The faces of children on milk cartons flashed before her dazed eyes. Oh, God, she might throw up. She’d turned off her cell in the hospital, but no messages had appeared when she’d powered it back up.
    “Let’s not get excited until we know there’s anything to get excited about,” Patty offered. “This is Huntley. People watch after each other’s kids.
    Donna stared at her sister as she unlocked the front door. How could she be so calm? Patty had always been the analytical one—the one who could come through a tornado with every hair in place. Donna tied up in a hard knot of emotion when things veered from the straight and narrow. The only time she exhibited Patty’s uncanny ability to stay absolutely level-headed was when she practiced medicine. And this wasn’t one of those times.
    Patty pushed the front door open and her daughters rushed in past her. Patty only smiled and marched across the living room toward the telephone.
    Donna followed, her knees rubbery and her heart skipping and stumbling. Her mother had laughed long and hard when Donna had declared her intent to enter medical school. You’ll never make it, sweetie . You’ll lose it the first time they stick a hypodermic in your hand .
    But she hadn’t. Donna had excelled. She’d gotten invited to join one of Denver’s most prestigious medical practices. Too bad her mom hadn’t lived to see it. She would have been very proud.
    God, her mind was rambling. Donna forced herself to focus. Her baby was missing.
    Six voicemails after Patty had pressed play, the one they had been waiting for finally resonated from the machine.
    “Ms. Russell, this is Hank Bradley.” The burr of Hank’s deep baritone filled the room, raising goose bumps on Donna’s goose bumps. “Since I couldn’t reach you or Dr. Jacobs, I brought Melissa home with me. Hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t know what else to do. I left a