Visiting Hours by Tagan Shepard

Author:Tagan Shepard [Shepard, Tagan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594935701
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2017-07-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“Beth!”

A wall of navy blue scrubs blocked the doorway to Beth’s room, and Alison pushed her way through.

“Hey! Wait!” one of them screeched and grabbed her arm.

“It’s okay, Nancy.” Beth’s look was full of reproach, but she had a sheen of sweat on her forehead and a pale ring around her tightly closed mouth. Alison knew all too well what fear looked like on Beth’s face, and that she was trying valiantly to disguise it. “What are you doing here Ali?”

“Stephen called me.”

“I told him not to call you. You don’t need to worry.”

Alison dropped her purse on the floor as she hurried to the bed. “He’s stuck across town doing an estimate. Someone needs to be here with you.”

Beth was lying flat, her pillows stacked neatly on the bedside table. “What about your classes?”

“Jennifer’s covering until I get back.”

The blankets were pushed down off Beth’s belly. A young woman on a stool fiddled with the controls of an ultrasound machine on the other side of the bed.

Nancy marched to the end of the bed. The badge clipped to her lapel rattled, the tag announcing her status as an RN swinging wildly behind it. “We’re about to do an ultrasound. Can I ask you to wait outside?”

She may as well not have been in the room for all the notice Alison gave her. She focused completely on Beth. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Beth winced as the ultrasound tech squeezed a large dollop of cold gel onto the crown of her belly. “I’ve just had some cramping and my heart rate’s a little high. Jess says it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Where is Jess?” Alison turned accusing eyes on Nancy. “Why isn’t she here? This is an emergency.”

Beth squeezed her hand. “It’s not an emergency.”

“It’s not an emergency,” Nancy echoed. She glared at Alison and continued. “The ultrasound is a precaution and her pulse is elevated because she’s nervous. We just need to stay calm, right Beth?”

Beth closed her eyes and nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths and blowing them out slowly. “Right. Everything is fine.” She opened her eyes, looking a little more relaxed. “There hasn’t been any bleeding. The cramping passed quickly. Everything is fine. Jess asked for the ultrasound just so I could see him. It’ll help to see him. It will.”

“Okay, I’m all set here.” The ultrasound tech’s voice was little girlishly high. “Are we ready to go?”

Nancy reached for Alison’s arm. “Miss, if I could ask you to wait in the hall.”

She did not even turn in the nurse’s direction. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Can’t she stay?” Beth chewed on her bottom lip. She held Alison’s hand in a bruising grip. “Please Nancy? Since Stephen can’t be here?”

Before Nancy could answer, the technician chirped cheerily, “The more the merrier.”

Nancy’s scowl showed she didn’t agree, but she was outnumbered. Almost the moment the ultrasound wand touched Beth’s belly a staticky, underwater sound filled the room.

“Okay little guy, where are ya?” The technician squinted at the monitor. The screen was a blur of black and gray pixels in constant motion as she moved the wand around.

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