Somewhere Out There(98)
The medic placed a reassuring hand on Brooke’s arm. “Hold on now. That could mean any number of things. Let’s get you to the ER and the doctors will figure out exactly what’s going on. No matter what, they’ll take care of you, I promise. They’ll do everything they can.”
Brooke was crying too hard to respond. The medic held Brooke’s hand as she spoke over a radio to the ER, describing Brooke’s symptoms. When they wheeled her through the automatic sliding glass doors, Brooke was rushed into an exam room, where the medics left her and two nurses took over.
“I’m Gemma,” the older one with silver hair said. “And this is Mark.” She gestured to the short, stocky bald man in blue scrubs who was setting up an IV. “We’ll be taking care of you today. I understand that you’re pregnant?”
“Twenty-three weeks,” Brooke said, trying to ignore the biting ache in her gut. “Am I going to lose it?” Her voice shook, and she pressed a hand across her mouth to keep the sobs from taking back over.
“I don’t know,” Gemma said. “We have to run some blood tests and do an ultrasound before we know for sure what’s going on.”
“We’ll get you started on fluids and check for a fetal heartbeat,” Mark said. “The obstetrician is on her way.”
“Is there anyone we can call for you?” Gemma asked. “The baby’s father?”
Brooke dropped her hand back to her abdomen and considered what would happen if she asked the nurse to contact Ryan. So far, he’d done as she’d asked and stayed away, and she didn’t want to call him now and make him think she’d changed her mind about accepting his help.
“He’s not involved,” Brooke said, rubbing her hand over the pain in her belly. Her hip joints ached like nothing she’d ever felt before.
“Anyone else?” Mark said. “Your mother, maybe, or a friend?”
“No,” Brooke said, her eyes filling again. She realized that the one person she wanted to be there was Natalie. She knew her sister would hold her hand; she would push her hair back from her face and tell her everything was going to be okay.
“All right,” Gemma said, and several minutes later, the door swung open and to Brooke’s surprise, Natalie rushed into the room.
“Your manager called me. You listed me as your emergency contact on your application,” she said, answering the question she likely saw on Brooke’s face. Natalie’s cheeks were red and she was breathing fast. “I came right away.”
“And you are?” Mark asked, poising his fingers over the keyboard attached to the computer next to the bed.
“She’s my sister,” Brooke said, and then Natalie stepped over and grabbed her hand, the two of them waiting for the doctor to come.
? ? ?
“There we go,” Dr. Patel said as she pushed the ultrasound wand along Brooke’s belly and the familiar, comforting whoosh, whoosh of the baby’s heartbeat filled the room.
“Oh, thank god,” Brooke said through her tears. Natalie still held her hand and now gave it a hard squeeze. “What happened? Where did the pain come from? Why was I bleeding?”
“My guess is the pain was from your ligaments stretching and your hips beginning to expand. For some women, especially first-time mothers, this can hurt quite a lot.” Dr. Patel, an attractive East Indian woman who spoke with a musical lilt, kept her eyes on the screen as she continued to move the wand on Brooke’s stomach.
“What about the bleeding?” Natalie asked.
“It wasn’t much,” Dr. Patel said, “even though I’m sure it felt like it was. We don’t always know what causes it. Possibly too much exertion, or it could be for no real reason at all. The good news is that it stopped, and it didn’t contain any kind of tissue. The baby looks wonderful.” She finally glanced back at Brooke. “How’s your pain?”
Brooke shifted a bit in the hospital bed, trying to gauge her answer. “I’m still a bit achy, but the shooting pains went away.” Her baby looked wonderful, she thought.
“Excellent,” Dr. Patel said. “We’d like to keep you overnight, just to monitor both you and the baby. If all remains well, you can go home tomorrow.”
“But everything is still okay, right?” Brooke asked, anxiously. “The baby’s fine?”
“Yes,” Dr. Patel said. “She looks perfect.”
“She?” Brooke froze. “I’m having a girl?”
“You’re having a girl!” Natalie said, and her brown eyes lit up.
“My apologies,” Dr. Patel said. “I assumed you already knew. I do hope you didn’t want it to be a surprise.”
“No,” Brooke said, and a happy, fluttering feeling filled her chest. “It’s fine. I wanted to know.” She looked at Natalie, unable to deny that she was thrilled to have her sister with her as she received this news.
Dr. Patel stood. “The nurse will be back in a bit to finish the admit process, and I’ll update your regular obstetrician. Congratulations!”
Brooke thanked her, and after she’d left, Natalie finally let go of her sister’s hand and sat down in the chair next to the bed. They were both quiet, not looking at each other. Brooke wasn’t sure that she forgave Natalie completely, but she did know that she’d never been as happy to see anyone in her life as she was when her sister showed up. That had to count for something.