"They were really inseparable," said Bridgette Sloan, the general manager of the La Quinta Hotel. "He would come and pick her up after work every day. They both had sparkles in their eyes."
Sales recalled her husband as a good provider and a man who looked forward to being a father.
"We shared ups and downs, good and bad," Sales said of her husband. "Our most joyous part was we were getting ready to have our family."
During her labor, Sales tried to focus on her baby despite the fact that Santay was not there.
"She knew something was wrong but didn't know what it was," said Bertha Anderson, a friend who stayed with Sales at the hospital until shortly before her son was born. "We didn't tell her. We didn't want to jeopardize the baby."
It wasn't until little Carlos arrived - at a healthy 6 pounds, 4 ounces - that another friend, Brenda Cardenas, broke the terrible news.
The new mother is now clinging to a small circle of family and friends, including her boss and housekeeping colleagues, who are trying to help her forge a new life for herself and her baby.
"She was so excited, and so was her husband, about the baby's arrival," said Sloan, who spent time with Sales and her son at the hospital yesterday. "I think they were just so much in love."
Sloan said that the young widow will stay with a friend for a while because she doesn't want to return to the home she shared with her husband; that would be too painful. Friends are also trying to set up a trust fund for the baby.
"It was just heart-wrenching," said Sloan of her visit with the mother and her baby. "She would look over at her baby and stop sobbing and then look up and say `Why? Why did this happen?'"
But even as she struggled to comprehend her new reality, there was reason to hope.
"I do see a lot of my husband in the baby, even though he's just a day old," Sales said.
brent.jones@baltsun.com lynn.anderson@baltsun.com
