Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(87)

“It was probably just on the early side,” June said. “We should’ve done another one at twenty weeks to be sure.”

“Yeah, but I’m so damn good,” John insisted.

“Penis?” Jack asked.

Mel looked up into his eyes and said, “We’re going to have to come up with another name.”

Jack had a dumb look on his face. Mel didn’t recall having seen that look before. “Man,” he said in a breath. “I might not know what to do with a boy.”

“Well, we got that news just in time,” June said, leaving the exam room.

“Yeah, right before the shower,” Susan added, following her.

“I really thought I had it nailed,” John said. “I feel betrayed, in a way.”

Mel looked up into her husband’s eyes and watched as a slow, powerful grin appeared. “What are you thinking, Jack?” she asked him.

“That I can’t wait to call my brothers-in-law, the slackers.”

Mel was ready to leave Doc’s for the day, to walk across the street and have dinner with her husband, when Connie came in assisting Liz to the front door. Connie had a hand under Liz’s elbow while Liz was gripping her belly. A dark fluid stain ran down her jeans from between her legs and she was crying. “It hurts,” she wailed. “It hurts!”

“Okay, honey,” Mel said, coming forward and taking the other hand. “Let’s see what’s going on. When did you see Dr. Stone last?”

“A couple of weeks ago. Oohh.”

“Is she in labor?” Connie asked.

“Maybe. We’ll know in a minute. Come into the exam room and let me check you. Then we’ll see if you should go to the hospital.”

Mel and Connie helped Liz undress, peeling off the wet jeans and helping her into a gown so she could get onto the exam table. “I’ll take it from here,” Mel told Connie. “I want to see where we are.”

“Call Rick,” Liz cried. “Please, Aunt Connie! Please! I need him!”

“Sure, honey.” Connie left the room, pulling the door closed behind her. Mel applied her fetoscope to Liz’s belly, though Liz writhed. She waited for the contraction to pass, but it was a long, hard one. Finally her uterus relaxed, not that it gave Liz much relief.

Liz’s cries became quieter and Mel worked hard at listening, moving the fetoscope all around. Then she hung it around her neck and pulled out the Doptone, a fetal heartbeat monitor. She moved it over Liz’s belly as calmly as possible, despite Liz’s squirming and groaning.

“Is the heartbeat okay?” Liz asked.

“It’s hard to hear with the contractions right now. I’ll listen again after I check your cervix.” Next, she put on gloves. “All right, Liz, let me examine you. Feet in the stirrups, slide down for me. I’ll be as gentle as possible. There you go. Take some slow, deep breaths.” She carefully slipped her hand into the birth canal. Six centimeters. No, seven. Bloody fluid.

“Liz,” she said, “it’s time. You’re going to deliver soon.” Mel tried with the Doptone again, her heart plummeting. Liz was a little early; she hadn’t even started the weekly visits she would pay to John Stone during her last month. She probably hadn’t had an internal exam since the one Mel gave her when she returned to Virgin River.

She got a blood pressure and listened to her heart. Normal, under the circumstances. She applied the Doptone again. “Have you been having contractions long?” she asked Liz.

“I don’t know. All day, I guess. But I didn’t know what it was. It just kept getting worse and worse. It wasn’t like those Braxton things. It was like a knife!”

“Okay, honey. It’s okay. Have you been feeling the baby move a lot?”

“No. Just my back hurting and lots of…And a stomachache on and off. Gas, I think. Was it gas?”

“I don’t know, honey. When did you last feel the baby move?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Liz cried. “Is he all right?”

“Try breathing like this,” she said, demonstrating a deep inhale, slow exhale. But Liz was too far into this. Mel showed her panting, short puffs of air, which seemed to work a little better. “There you go. I’m going to go make sure your aunt Connie called Rick. Okay?”

“Okay. But don’t leave me.”

“I’ll only be a minute. Try the breathing.”

Mel left the room, pulling the door closed. “Connie, did you find Rick?”

“Jack sent him over to Garberville to pick up some beef for the bar. He should be back pretty soon.”

“How soon?” Mel asked. It was her gut instinct to tell Liz immediately—there was no heartbeat, no movement. But she was so young, vulnerable, so dependent on Rick.

“Minutes, Jack said,” Connie answered.

“Okay, good. Liz is in labor and she’s dilated. Will you please go stay with her for a couple of minutes? I should call Dr. Stone. It won’t take me long.”

Doc Mullins caught her in the hallway. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Mel leaned close and whispered. “I have no fetal heartbeat, no movement, seven centimeters and she can’t remember when she last felt the baby move.”

His white brows drew together more and more as Mel spoke. When she was done he said, “Goddamn it!”